The  Return 
Night  Wind 


t  >  *  V 


THE  RETURN  OF 
THE  NIGHT  WIND 

A  SEQUEL  TO 
"ALIAS  THE  NIGHT  WIND" 


BY 

VARICK  VANARDY 


M.  A.  DONOHUE  &  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  NEW  YORF 


1913,  BT 
THE  FRANK  A.  MUNSEY  CO. 


COPYRIGHT,  1914,  BY 
G.  W.  DILLINGHAM  COMPANY 


ffe  Return  of  the  Night  Wind 


Made  in  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  LADY  KATE  OF  THE  POLICE 7 

II.  The  GAUNTLET  THROWN  DOWN  ....  16 

III.  THE  INSPECTOR'S  PRIVATE  OFFICE     ...  25 

IV.  THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  PROPHECY     ....  37 
V.  A  STRATEGIC  VICTORY 47 

VI.  "BREAKING"  A  COP 54 

VII.  A  MIDNIGHT  CALL 63 

VIII.  RODNEY  RUSHTON'S  ORDEAL  ....  70 

IX.  PLAYING  THE  GAME 81 

X.  A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY" 90 

XI.  LADY  KATE'S  MISFORTUNE 102 

XII.  THE  LITTLE  DOOR 112 

XIII.  PUTTING  ONE  OVER  ON  RUSHTON       .      .      .  119 

XIV.  INTO  JAIL— AND  OUT 133 

XV.  FRIENDS  IN  NEED 142 

XVI.  THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  INCREDIBLE  SWIFTNESS   .  152 

XVII.  RUSHTON  SHOWS  His  COLORS       .      .      .      .  161 

XVIII.  THE  BANKER'S  DILEMMA 171 

XIX.  THE  MASQUERADER 181 

XX.  THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  ROOF 188 

XXI.  BATTING  A  TRAP 19$ 


2138642 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXII.  A  NET  FOR  RUSHTON 203 

XXIII.  WHEN  LADY  KATE  MADE  READY       .      .      ,  210 

XXIV.  THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  CLOSEST  CALL    .      .      .  220 
XXV.  THE  "SOCIETY  OF  CRIPPLED  COPS"   .      .      .  230 

XXVI.  FOR  THE  HONOR  OF  THE  SERVICE       .      .      .  240 

XXVII.  THE  GOOD  THAT  MEN  Do      .      .     .      ,     .  249 

XXVHL  THE  GREAT  WHITE  LIGHT 258 

XXIX.  FINDING  A  BANKER'S  HEART 267 

XXX.  THE  CIPHER 276 

XXXI.  IN  FRONT  OF  CHESTER'S  HOUSE  ....  286 

XXXII.  LADY  KATE'S  DISGUISE  UNCOVERED  .      .     .  296 

XXXni.  THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WENT       ....  306 

XXXIV.  TAKING  THE  "THIRD  DEGREE"    ....  316 

XXXV.  THE  AFTERMATH 323 


THE  RETURN   OF  THE 
NIGHT  WIND 

CHAPTER   I 

LADY    KATE    OF   THE    POLICE 

"What  are  you  doing  here?  How  did  you  get 
in?  Who  are  you?" 

Lady  Kate  lifted  a  pair  of  inscrutable,  fathom- 
less eyes  to  meet  the  perplexed,  half-angry  gaze  of 
Banker  Chester,  and  she  replied  with  utter  calm, 
while  the  ghost  of  a  smile  flitted  across  her  perfect 
features.  She  answered  each  of  the  questions  in 
their  order. 

"I  have  been,"  she  said,  "waiting  for  you.  I 
entered  with  a  key.  I  am — or  was — Lady  Kate  of 
the  Police." 

Another  suggestion  of  a  smile  glowed  for  the 
briefest  instant  upon  her  face,  and  was  gone  as  soon 
as  it  appeared.  She  did  not  alter  her  attitude  of 
relaxed  ease  by  so  much  as  the  movement  of  a 
finger.  She  continued  to  lean  back  comfortably  in 
the  depths  of  the  huge,  leather-upholstered  chair 
she  occupied. 

The  banker  looked  down  upon  her  with  a  frown 
7 


8         RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

upon  his  face  and  growing  anger  in  his  eyes.  The 
multitudinous  affairs  of  his  daily  life  in  the  world 
of  finance  had  crowded  out  all  recollection  of  the 
name  she  had  used;  and  yet  it  stirred  something 
of  memory  within  him,  too. 

And  her  face?  He  knew  that  somewhere  he 
had  seen  it  before,  and  the  vague  acknowledgment 
of  the  fact  to  himself  stirred  him  uneasily. 

Of  the  three  replies  she  made  to  his  three  ques- 
tions, only  one  sank  into  his  understanding  as  being 
of  paramount  and  immediate  importance;  and  he 
replied  instantly: 

"You  entered  with  a  key!  Whose  key?  What 
key?" 

"With  a  key ;  yes.  A  latch-key  to  the  front  door 
of  this  house.  Whose  key,  you  ask,  Mr.  Chester? 
I  came  in  with  the  key  which  you  had  made  ex- 
pressly for,  and  gave  to — Bingham  Harvard." 

She  straightened  and  stiffened  in  her  chair  when 
she  uttered  the  name,  bending  slightly  forward  to- 
ward the  man  who  stood  before  her.  Her  eyes, 
half  quizzical,  partly  smiling  until  then,  were  sud- 
denly hard  as  flint;  and  her  mobile  lips,  without 
apparent  motion,  seemed  also  to  harden. 

And  the  banker! 

The  mention  of  that  name  shocked  him  into  im- 
potency.  He  stood  like  a  statue  while  the  blood 
slowly  receded  from  his  face,  leaving  it  white  and 
drawn — and  frightened. 


LADY  KATE  OF  THE  POLICE  9 

Lady  Kate  watched  him  with  the  calmness  of  a 
stoic;  waited  for  him  to  recover  from  the  shock 
of  that  announcement,  which  had  been  even  more 
severe  than  she  had  anticipated. 

She  saw  him  put  out  a  hand  toward  the  library 
table,  which  occupied  the  middle  of  the  room,  to 
steady  himself.  She  saw  him  moisten  his  lips 
with  the  tip  of  his  tongue  and  thrust  out  his  chin, 
as  if  the  intaking  of  his  breath  were  an  effort. 
She  relaxed  into  the  depths  of  the  chair  again,  but 
the  hardness  that  had  come  into  her  exquisite  face 
remained. 

"Bingham — Harvard!"  the  banker  gasped  in  a 
shrill  whisper  when  it  was  given  him  again  to 
articulate. 

"Yes,"  Lady  Kate  said  calmly. 

"Where — where  is  he?" 

"At  least  he  is  not  here — now,  Mr.  Chester.  Of 
that  you  may  be  sure." 

Then  the  blood  surged  back  into  Chester's  face 
with  apoplectic  force,  changing  it  from  white  to  a 
lesser  tint  of  purple. 

His  wrath  mounted  with  it  like  boiling  water  in 
a  kettle  over  a  hot  fire.  He  forgot  his  dignity, 
his  gentility,  his  native  courtesy.  He  stormed  at 
her  in  an  outburst  of  passion  that  was  like  the 
popping  of  a  safety-valve  of  a  locomotive;  and 
Lady  Kate  listened  without  a  change  of  expression, 


10       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

without  comment,  without  resentment,  until  the 
storm  had  passed. 

"How  dare  you  enter  my  house  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  like  a  thief,  and  with  a  key  that  I 
once  gave  to  a  thief,  not  knowing  that  he  was  one? 
How  dare  you  sit  here  in  my  library? 

"Your  insolence,  your  effrontery,  and  your  pres- 
ence here  are  alike  insufferable — intolerable.  And 
how  dare  you — you,  whoever  you  are — utter  that 
name  in  my  presence?" 

He  sprang  to  the  door  and  threw  it  open.  "Out, 
woman!  Out,  I  say,  while  there  is  time — while  I 
can  retain  some  measure  of  control  over  myself. 
Be  off  with  you  before  I  use  the  telephone  to  sum- 
mon the  police  and  send  you  where  I  have  no  doubt 
you  belong — where  you  most  certainly  do  belong 
if  you  are,  as  you  imply,  hand  in  glove  with  that 
despicable  and  consummate  scoundrel  whose  name 
you  have  spoken!  Begone!  Leave  this  house  at 
once,  and  never  dare  to  enter  it  again !  And — give 
me  that  key !  Now!" 

This  is  not  all  that  he  said — 'but  it  is  enough  of 
it.  There  was  much  more  like  it,  save  only  that 
it  was  worse.  But  the  effect  of  it  all  boomeranged 
upon  himself. 

At  the  end  of  his  tirade,  his  passion  spent,  his 
face  became  livid  again.  His  head  bent  forward 
until  his  chin  touched  the  bosom  of  his  shirt.  He 
tottered  where  he  stood,  and  clung  desperately  to 


LADY  KATE  OF  THE  POLICE           11 

the  door  that  he  had  opened  for  Lady  Kate's  egress. 

Involuntarily  he  closed  it  again.  Then,  weakly, 
with  uncertain  steps,  he  half  crossed  the  room  and 
sank  down  upon  a  chair  opposite  her,  with  the  li- 
brary table  between  them. 

Throughout  all  of  it  Lady  Kate  neither  moved 
nor  spoke;  and  now  she  did  not  when  he  seated 
himself  beyond  the  table. 

But  her  eyes  never  left  his  face ;  and  when,  cow- 
eringly,  half  fearfully,  he  ventured  to  lift  his  own, 
they  encountered  hers,  fixed  full  upon  him,  with  a 
calm,  judicial  scrutiny  that  was  contemptuous  be- 
yond words,  but,  above  all  else,  dismaying. 

Lady  Kate  did  not  offer  to  speak;  she  waited 
for  the  banker  to  do  so,  knowing  that  presently  he 
would. 

Gradually,  and  with  apparent  effort,  Chester  re- 
covered his  mental  equilibrium.  Behind  the  nar- 
rowness and  hardness  of  his  mathematical  life  as 
a  banker,  outside  the  limited  environment  of  his 
two-plus-two  existence,  beyond  the  horizon  of  the 
sordid  dollar  and  what  a  dollar  could  earn,  he  was 
gentle  and  kind  and  good. 

His  instincts  and  aspirations  were  of  the  highest 
order;  and — he  had  loved  Bingham  Harvard  as  a 
father  loves  a  favorite  son.  He  loved  him  still, 
although  he  did  not  know  it. 

Little  by  little  he  recovered  his  normal  poise,  and 
at  last,  in  a  tone  that  was  entirely  calm  and  com- 


12        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

posed — in  the  tone  that  he  would  have  used  in  his 
private  office  at  the  bank — he  asked : 

"Why  are  you  here,  madam?  What  is  the  pur- 
pose of  this  midnight  call  upon  me?" 

She  left  the  deep  chair  in  which  she  had  been 
seated  and  drew  up  a  straight-backed  one  at  the 
opposite  side  of  the  table.  She  seated  herself  upon 
it,  and  bending  slightly  forward  with  her  elbows 
on  the  table  and  her  hands  clasped  together  just 
beneath  her  shapely  chin,  replied: 

"I  came  here  in  the  interest  of  Bingham  Har- 
vard, Mr.  Chester.  The  purpose  of  my  call  upon 
you  is  to  insist  that  you  make  an  earnest  effort  now 
at  once  to  discover  the  identity  of  the  thief  who 
robbed  your  bank,  and  by  doing  so  establish  for- 
ever the  innocence  of  Bingham  Harvard.  That  is 
why  I  am  here." 

"I  will  make  no  such  effort  as  you  demand," 
was  the  banker's  calm  reply.  "It  would  be  utterly 
useless.  Bingham  Harvard  is  guilty." 

"That,"  Lady  Kate  replied  slowly  and  without 
emphasis,  "is  a  falsehood,  and  you  know  in  your 
heart  that  it  is  one." 

"Madam!" 

"Mr.  Chester,  I  did  not  come  here  to  mince 
words  or  to  paraphrase  with  facts.  Whosoever 
says  unequivocably  that  Bingham  Harvard  was 
guilty  of  that  theft  at  your  bank  lies !" 

She  waited  an  instant.    "But  somewhere  there  is 


LADY  KATE  OF  THE  POLICE          13 

a  guilty  man,  and  that  guilty  man  must  be  found; 
and  you,  sir,  must  help  with  all  the  power  and 
force  that  you  possess  to  find  him.  The  innocence 
of  Bingham  Harvard  must  be — shall  be — estab- 
lished. His  birthright  of  integrity  and  honesty 
must  be  restored  to  him." 

"His  birthright!"  The  contempt  which  the 
banker  managed  to  inject  into  the  utterance  of  those 
two  words  brought  a  hot  flush  for  the  first  time  to 
Lady  Kate's  cheeks.  But  she  replied  with  the  same 
absence  of  all  emotion,  nevertheless : 

"Yes,  his  birthright,  for  whoever  his  unknown 
parents  might  have  been,  they  endowed  him  with  a 
lofty  soul,  a  sterling  character,  a  strong  heart,  and 
an  upright,  unsulliable  mind.  You,  Mr.  Chester, 
more  than  any  other  man,  should  know  all 
that." 

"I  know,"  the  banker  replied,  coldly  calm — in 
another  man  his  manner  might  have  been  called 
coldly  insolent — "that  I  played  the  part  of  a  father 
to  him  from  his  early  youth  until  the  hour  came 
when  he  turned  upon  me  and  bit  the  hand  that  had 
fed  him ;  and,  of  all  despicable  things  on  earth,  that 
is  the  most  base  and  unforgivable.  I  would  not — 
No,  /  will  not  lift  one  finger  in  any  effort  to  estab- 
lish an  innocence  which  would  be  a  lie.  Bingham 
Harvard  is  guilty." 

"And  are  you,  Mr.  Chester,  content  to  accept 
the  word  of  such  a  creature  as  Lieutenant  Rodney 


14        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Rushton  in  preference  to  the  word  of  my — of  Bing- 
ham  Harvard?'1 

"Yes.  Or  the  word  of  any  other  man,  no  matter 
whom — >rather  than  his.  And,  madam" — the  banker 
glanced  at  his  watch — "permit  me  to  suggest  that 
the  hour  is  late.  It  is  now  a  quarter  to  one.  No 
possible  good  can  come  by  prolonging  this  inter- 
view, which,  I  must  insist,  is  distinctly  abominable 
to  me.  I  must  ask  you  to  restore  that  latch-key 
and  to  go  away." 

Lady  Kate  pinched  open  her  mesh-bag  and  laid 
the  key  on  the  table.  Chester  started  to  rise;  but 
she  spoke  again,  in  that  same  calm  tone  she  had 
been  using:  "One  moment,  please." 

Chester  resumed  his  seat  and  Lady  Kate  picked 
up  the  telephone,  which  was  within  reach  of  her 
hand.  "With  your  permission,  sir,"  she  added,  as 
if  it  were  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that 
she  should  do  what  she  did  do.  And  then,  before 
he  could  reply  or  offer  an  objection,  she  called  for 
a  number.  There  was  a  short  wait,  and  then : 

"Has  Mr.  Clancy  returned?  Thank  you.  Will 
you  please  ask  him  to  come  to  the  telephone?  He 
must  have  found  a  letter  from  me  awaiting  him 
when  he  returned.  Say  that  the  person  calling  is 
Mrs.  Bingham  Harvard." 

There  was  a  crash  at  the  opposite  side  of  the 
table  as  the  banker  in  starting  to  his  feet  over- 
turned his  chair. 


LADY  KATE  OF  THE  POLICE          15 

"What?"  he  cried  out.  "You — you  are  that 
man's  wife?  His  wife?  You?" 

"Even  I,"  she  replied  smilingly,  putting  one  small 
palm  over  the  transmitter  while  she  raised  her  eyes 
to  his  across  the  table.  "I  am  Bingham  Harvard's 
wife,  and  I  find  time  every  day  I  live  to  thank  the 
good  God  for  it." 

"And  that — that  man  you  are  calling  now  is  Tom 
Clancy?  His  friend?  And  the  son  of  my  friend? 
Is  it  Torn  Clancy  whom  you  are  calling?" 

"Yes,  Mr.  Chester —  One  moment,  please. 
Hello,  Mr.  Clancy!  This  is  Mrs.  Harvard.  Did 
you  receive  my  letter  ?  I  am  with  Mr.  Chester  now 
— at  his  home.  How  soon  do  you  think  you  can 
get  here?  Thank  you."  Lady  Kate  hung  up  the 
receiver. 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  that  man  is  coming 
here  to  my  house  now  and  by  your  invitation  ?"  the 
banker  demanded,  beside  himself  with  rage  for  the 
second  time  that  night;  and,  without  waiting  for 
her  reply,  he  almost  shouted :  "It  is  an  outrage ! 
I  will  not  permit  it!  You  must  go — now,  at  once!" 

"Mr.  Chester,"  she  replied  calmly — "Mr.  Clancy 
will  be  here  within  ten  minutes  and  you  will  admit 
him.  You  would  scarcely  use  force  to  eject  me 
from  your  house,  would  you?  For,  unless  you  do 
that,  we  will  wait  here  together  until  Mr.  Clancy 
arrives." 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  GAUNTLET   THROWN   DOWN 

The  banker  did  not  admit  Thomas  Clancy. 

When  the  bell  rang  he  sat  stubbornly  immova- 
ble; and  Lady  Kate,  after  regarding  him  in  silence 
for  a  brief  moment,  went  calmly  to  the  outer  door 
herself  and  admitted  her  friend — the  only  friend 
that  had  been  left  to  Bingham  Harvard,  alias  the 
Night  Wind,  when  all  the  world  had  turned  against 
him  and  he  had  been  hunted  like  a  wild  thing  with 
a  price  upon  his  head,  dead  or  alive. 

"My  dear  Mrs.  Harvard—  '  Clancy  began  im- 
pulsively the  instant  he  crossed  the  threshold,  for 
they  had  not  seen  each  other  until  that  moment 
since  her  return ;  but  she  put  a  finger  quickly  to  her 
lips,  commanding  silence,  and,  turning  abruptly 
after  one  brief  hand-clasp,  led  the  way  into  the  li- 
brary. 

Apparently  the  banker  had  not  moved  a  finger, 
and  he  did  not  when  Tom  Clancy  entered  the  room. 
He  did  not  raise  his  eyes  or  offer  anything  at  all 
in  the  way  of  a  greeting  to  the  son  of  his  old  friend. 

"How  are  you,  Chester?"  Clancy  remarked  gen- 
16 


THE  GAUNTLET  THROWN  DOWN       17 

ially,  and  then  smiled  grimly  at  the  banker's  atti- 
tude. 

"Mr.  Chester,"  said  Lady  Kate,  "I  will  make  a 
short  explanation  of  the  present  circumstance  so 
that  you  may  quite  understand  how  it  has  come 
about.  My  husband  and  I  have  been  abroad  since 
the  happening  of  the  unpleasant  incidents  with 
which  you  are  familiar.  It  is  approximately  six 
months  since  we  went  away.  During  that  time 
we  have  sent  brief  messages  infrequently  to  Mr. 
Clancy.  For  obvious  reasons  we  gave  him  no  ad- 
dress whereby  he  might  have  communicated  with 
us.  He  did  not  know  of  my  intention  to  return, 
and  had  no  knowledge  of  my  presence  in  the  city 
until  he  received  and  read  a  letter  which  I  sent 
to  his  home  late  this  afternoon  by  a  messenger. 
I  hope  you  are  heeding  what  I  say;  it  would  be 
more  comprehensive  possibly  if  you  would  raise 
your  eyes  occasionally — unless,  indeed,  you  are 
ashamed  to  do  so." 

Chester  raised  his  eyes  with  a  jerk,  opened  his 
mouth  as  if  to  speak,  but  closed  his  jaws  like  a 
trap.  Nevertheless,  after  that  moment  he  kept  his 
gazed  fixed  upon  the  Night  Wind's  wife  with  more 
or  less  intensity — although  he  could  not  avoid  shift- 
ing them  at  times  when  her  own  regard  became  too 
scrutinizing  for  his  comfort.  She  continued : 

"In  that  letter  I  told  Mr.  Clancy  of  my  return 
and  of  the  purpose  that  brought  me  here.  I  came 


18       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

ashore  soon  after  one  o'clock  this  afternoon.  I  ex- 
plained to  him  that  my  first  duty  was  to  talk  with 
you,  and  that  it  was  imperative  that  the  interview 
should  be  private  and  devoid  of  the  possibility  of 
an  interruption.  In  a  word,  I  told  him  of  my  pos- 
session of  a  key  to  this  house,  and  that  I  had  de- 
cided to  be  here  in  your  library,  awaiting  you  when 
you  should  return  from  a  banquet  which  you  were 
to  attend  to-night." 

"Then  it  was  you  who  telephoned  to  the  bank 
this  afternoon?"  the  banker  exclaimed,  speaking 
for  the  first  time  since  Clancy's  entrance. 

"The  telephoning  was  done  at  my  direction.  It 
was  necessary  that  I  should  know  of  your  plans 
for  to-night.  I  was  determined  to  see  you  before 
I  slept,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  there  could  be 
no  interruption." 

Chester  did  not  reply,  and  after  a  moment  Lady 
Kate  went  on : 

"In  my  letter  to  Mr.  Clancy  I  asked  him  to  hold 
himself  in  readiness  to  come  to  me — and  to  you, 
sir — here,  when  I  should  telephone." 

For  the  first  time  Chester  turned  his  eyes  upon 
Clancy.  Tom's  father  had  been  his  closest  business 
associate,  and  his  life-long  friend ;  and  he  had  been 
fond  of  Tom  since  the  latter's  infancy. 

The  banker's  eyes  were  cold  and  hard.  His  lips 
were  drawn  into  firm,  unyielding  lines.  There  was 
no  sign  or  indication  of  compromise,  or  even  of 


THE  GAUNTLET  THROWN  DOWN       19 

kindness,  about  him.  His  entire  attitude  was  one 
of  utter  relentlessness.  His  voice,  when  he  spoke, 
was  his  most  austere  "banker's  voice,"  cold,  dis- 
tant, expressionless,  leaving  naught  but  the  naked 
words  he  uttered  to  express  what  he  wished  his 
companions  to  know. 

"Tom  Clancy,"  he  said,  "you  have  intruded  here 
without  invitation  and  without  permission.  When 
I  have  finished  with  what  I  have  to  say  I  want  you 
to  leave  my  house  and  never  to  enter  it  again ;  and 
when  you  go,  you  must  take  this  woman  with  you." 

Clancy  started  and  bent  forward  as  if  to  inter- 
rupt, but  at  a  sign  from  Lady  Kate  he  relaxed  again, 
and  waited.  The  banker  continued: 

"One  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  dollars  dis- 
appeared from  the  paying  teller's  cage  at  my  bank 
almost  a  year  ago.  Bingham  Harvard,  my  foster 
son,  although  I  never  adopted  him  legally,  thank 
God,  was  the  paying  teller.  A  detective  from  police 
headquarters  whom  I  called  in,  and  who  had  done 
much  good  service  for  me  before  that,  succeeded 
in  fastening  the  theft  of  that  money  upon  him. 
When  Harvard  was  called  upon  to  surrender  to  the 
law — right  here  in  this  room — he  changed  into  a 
wild  man  on  the  instant ;  he  used  his  great  strength 
to  maim  and  cripple  the  three  officers  who  were 
here  to  take  him — and  he  made  his  escape.  After 
that  he  continued  to  defy  the  law  until  he  became 


20        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

a  terror  to  the  whole  city,  and  an  abomination  in 
the  sight  of  every  law-abiding  citizen. 

"You  know  the  history  of  it  all  as  well  as  I  do. 
I  mention  it  now  because  I  want  you  and  this 
woman  who  says  she  is  his  wife " 

"Chester,  by >" 

Another  quick  gesture  from  Lady  Kate  silenced 
Clancy's  hot  anger  at  the  slur.  The  banker  went 
on  imperturbably  in  the  same  colorless  voice : 

" to  understand  my  attitude  thoroughly.  Un- 
til that  thing  happened  I  loved  Bingham  Harvard 
as  if  he  were  my  own  son.  After  it  happened, 
after  what  he  did,  and  now  and  j  or  evermore, 
he  has  ceased  to  exist  so  far  as  I  am  concerned. 
There  can  be  no  compromise."  Chester  got  sud- 
denly upon  his  feet  and  stepped  backward,  away 
from  the  chair  he  had  been  occupying.  "And  now 

I  want  you  to  go.  If  you  do  not "  He  took 

a  quick  step  forward  and  reached  for  the  telephone. 

But  Lady  Kate  was  quicker  than  he.  She  bent 
forward  and  seized  it,  then  leaned  back  in  her  chair 
again  with  an  odd  little  smile  in  her  eyes  as  she 
looked  up  at  the  banker  across  the  table. 

Clancy  was  on  his  feet  now,  facing  the  thor- 
oughly incensed  Chester;  and  he  was  scarcely  less 
angry  than  the  older  man,  because  of  those  slurs 
which  the  latter  had  dared  to  cast  upon  the  wife 
of  his  friend. 

"You   contemptible  little  money-grub!"   he   ex- 


THE  GAUNTLET  THROWN  DOWN       21 

claimed  hotly.  "Why,  Chester,  I  am  ashamed  to 
remember  that  my  father  ever  called  you  his  friend. 
You  are  not  even  a  friend  to  yourself.  Your  soul 
is  so  small  that  it  wouldn't  weigh  in  the  balance 
against  a  fleck  of  fog." 

"Get  out  of  my  house!"  the  banker  ordered. 
"Both  of  you." 

"Oh,  we  will  go  in  a  moment.  We'll  be  glad  to 
go.  You  needn't  worry.  But  first  I  have  got  some- 
thing to  say  to  you,  and  I'm  going  to  say  it  if  I 
have  to  adopt  Bing  Harvard's  methods  to  compel 
you  to  listen.  Do  you  understand  that?" 

"Say  it,  then,  and  begone." 

"I  haven't  been  idle  since  the  Night  Wind  blew 
away,  six  months  ago.  I  haven't  accomplished  very 
much  as  yet,  but  I'm  going  to  accomplish  every- 
thing that  I  set  out  to  do  then.  That  is,  we  are. 
And  I  want  to  tell  you  one  thing:  there  is  not  a 
move  you  make  or  a  thing  you  do  that  is  not  re- 
ported to  me;  and  as  sure  as  there  is  justice  in 
Heaven,  Bing  Harvard  and  Bing  Harvard's  wife 
and  I  will  nail  you  and  your  smooth  unctuousness 
to  the  cross  of  bitter  retribution  before  we  have  done 
with  you.  And  by  Heaven,  Chester!" — he  came 
a  step  nearer,  pounding  his  left  hand  with  his  right 
one  as  he  did  so — "we'll  make  you  get  down  on 
your  knees  and  grovel  to  the  man  you  have  wronged 
before  we  are  done  with  you.  Come,  Katherine, 
let's  get  out  of  here.  I'm  nauseated." 


22        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Wait,"  she  replied  quickly.  "Just  one  more 
word.  Mr.  Chester,  think  once  more,  please.  Help 
us  to  right  this  great  wrong  that  has  been  done 
to  my  husband." 

"Not  by  so  much  as  the  turning  of  a  finger,"  the 
banker  replied  in  an  even  tone. 

"Listen:  Bingham  did  not  wish  to  return  here, 
ever.  He  wanted  to  go  far  away,  to  the  other  side 
of  the  world,  and  begin  his  life  anew.  Being  his 
wife,  I  would  not  consent  to  that.  I  forced  him  to 
consent  to  return,  to  clear  himself  of  that  horrible 
stigma  that  you  and  Rodney  Rushton  put  upon 
him,  and  I  promise  you,  now  that  I  am  here,  it 
shall  be  done  to  the  very  last  balance  in  the  scales 
of  justice  and  right.  With  your  willing  assistance 
it  might  be  accomplished  much  more  quickly  and 
easily  than  otherwise.  So,  Mr.  Chester,  once  more 
I  plead  with  you :  won't  you  help  us  ?" 

"No.  Do  I  understand  you  to  say  that  Bingham 
Harvard  has  returned  also?  That  he  is  here  in 
the  city  now?  Rest  assured,  madam,  that  I  shall 
lose  no  time  in  acquainting  the  police  with  that  in- 
teresting bit  of  news."  The  banker  made  a  grimace 
which  he  intended  to  be  a  smile  of  derision. 

"Oh,  how  unspeakable  you  are,"  Katherine  re- 
turned evenly,  but  with  somber,  burning  eyes.  "No. 
He  is  not  here.  I  came  alone ;  came  to  take  up 
this  work  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Clancy." 

"Where  is  he?    Perhaps  you  will  tell  me  that." 


THE  GAUNTLET  THROWN  DOWN       23 

"He  is  on  the  other  side;  let  us  say  that  he  is  in 
London,  if  that  interests  you.  When  I  have  need 
of  him  I  will  cable  him,  and  he  will  come.  I  think, 
when  he  does  come,  that  you,  Mr.  Chester,  will  be 
the  first  man  he  will  seek — even  as  I  sought  you. 
But  he  might  not  be  as  gentle  with  you  as  I  have 
been." 

A  deathlike  pallor  spread  slowly  over  the  face 
of  the  banker,  and  he  caught  his  breath  in  a  sharp 
gasp  that  had  in  it  something  akin  to  terror. 

"Do  you  dare  to  threaten  me — in  his  name?" 
Chester  demanded  huskily. 

"Yes.     But  with  exposure;  not  with  violence." 

"He  will  not  dare  to  come  here  again.  He  will 
not  dare!"  the  banker  cried  out. 

Lady  Kate  smiled  at  him  across  the  table. 

"Did  you  ever  know  of  anything  that  Bingham 
Harvard  wanted  to  do  that  he  did  not  dare  to  do?" 
she  asked  evenly.  "Did  he  hesitate  to  go  about,  at 
his  own  pleasure  and  will,  when  the  entire  police 
force  of  this  city  was  seeking  him?  Did  he  hesi- 
tate to  defend  himself  when  he  was  attacked?  Did 
the  men  who  attacked  him  once  venture  to  do  so 
a  second  time?  Did  those  men  drive  him  away,  or 
did  he  go  away  of  his  own  free  will  and  accord? 
Oh,  you  miserably  little  man,  how  impossible  it  is 
for  you  to  understand  or  to  comprehend  a  man 
who  is  big  and  great,  and  good,  and  honest!  I  am 
here  to  find  the  thief  who  stole  that  money,  Mr. 


24        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Chester,  and  I  am  beginning  to  believe  that  I  have 
not  far  to  look." 

"Indeed  no,  madam.  You  have  only  to  look  at 
the  man  you  call  hus — < — " 

"Stop  where  you  are,  sir.  I  have  only  to  look 
across  this  table  at  you  to  see  the  real  thief.  You 
are  that  thief!  You!  Even  though  you  did  not 
steal  the  actual  cash,  you  are  the  thief!  You  are 
the  real  thief!" 

"Yes,  by  Heaven,  and  we'll  brand  it  on  your 
forehead,  Chester,  before  we  have  done  with  you !" 
Clancy  exclaimed.  "Come  on,  Lady  Kate,  let's 
get  out  of  this." 

She  left  her  place  beside  the  table  and  drew 
nearer  to  Clancy.  Chester  sprang  forward  sud- 
denly and  seized  upon  the  telephone.  Clancy  darted 
after  him  and  would  have  torn  it  from  his  grasp, 
but  Katherine  seized  his  arm  and  held  him  back. 

"Wait,"  she  said  calmly.  "Let  him  telephone  to 
police  headquarters  now,  if  he  so  desires.  He 
would  do  so  in  any  event  as  soon  as  we  are  gone. 
But  he  does  not  know  (neither  do  you,  Mr.  Clancy) 
of  other  things  I  have  done  in  preparation  for  this 
moment.  I  shall  not  wait  for  the  police  to  seek  me. 
I  shall  seek  them.  They  shall  know  of  the  Night 
Wind's  return  when  he  shall  have  returned." 

Lady  Kate  and  Thomas  Clancy  passed  out  of 
the  house  together,  leaving  Chester  at  the  telephone, 
wildly  calling  for  police  headquarters. 


CHAPTER    III 
THE  INSPECTOR'S  PRIVATE  OFFICE 

Tom  Clancy  had  been  inside  his  own  home  but 
a  few  moments  when  there  came  a  peremptory 
summons  at  his  front  door,  and  he  went  in  person 
to  open  it,  knowing  well  that  the  police  would  have 
lost  no  time  in  seeking  him,  after  the  announce- 
ment that  Chester  had  doubtless  made  to  them  over 
the  telephone. 

It  was  Lieutenant  Rodney  Rushton  who  con- 
fronted him  when  he  did  throw  the  door  ajar; 
and  beside  Rushton,  at  the  top  of  the  steps,  was 
Coniglio,  one  of  the  two  headquarters  men  who 
had  accompanied  Rushton  on  that  memorable  oc- 
casion to  which  the  banker  had  referred,  when  the 
attempt  was  made,  approximately  nine  months  be- 
fore, to  arrest  Bingham  Harvard  at  Chester's  house. 

Rushton  thrust  himself  forward  with  the  same 
aggressive  air  he  always  adopted;  belligerent,  in- 
solent of  tone  and  manner. 

"Where  is  she?"  he  demanded  without  preface, 
25 


26        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

stepping  over  the  threshold.  "We  want  her,  Clancy, 
and  we  want  her  right  now.  Hedging  won't  go 
this  trip."  Coniglio  followed  him  into  the  house. 

Clancy  moved  backward  a  pace  and  gestured 
toward  the  parlor  door,  and  with  a  queer  little  half 
smile  upon  his  face. 

"Step  into  the  parlor,  gentlemen,  and  be  seated," 
he  said.  "I  was  expecting  you.  In  fact  I  was 
awaiting  you ;  although" — he  let  his  glance  rest  for 
an  instant  upon  Rushton's  pig-eyes — "I  hardly  an- 
ticipated that  you  would  come,  Rushton." 

"You  didn't,  eh?  Why  not?"  Rushton  de- 
manded in  reply  as  they  passed  through  the  open 
doorway  into  the  parlor. 

"Oh,  well" — Clancy  permitted  himself  a  broad 
smile  this  time — "I  have  always  given  you  credit 
for  plenty  of  gall,  Rushton;  but,  on  the  level,  I 
didn't  think  it  was  quite  equal  to  this." 

"That  will  be  about  all  from  you,  Mr.  Clancy," 
the  lieutenant  replied  savagely.  "We  are  officers 
of  the  law,  and  as  such " 

"As  such,  you  have  no  more  privilege  inside  of 
this  house  than  a  pan-handler  of  the  streets.  Don't 
forget  that.  Now,  what  do  you  want  ?" 

Clancy's  apparently  easy-going  manner  was  sud- 
denly changed  to  sharp  directness. 

"We  want  Lady  Kate.  That's  what  we  want," 
Rushton  retorted,  standing  with  one  hand  grasp- 
ing the  back  of  the  chair  upon  which  he  had  been 


THE  INSPECTOR'S  PRIVATE  OFFICE     27 

about  to  seat  himself.  "We're  going  to  get  her, 
too." 

"Did  you  expect  to  find  the  lady  here,  at  my 
house?"  Clancy  inquired. 

"Well,  why  not?  She  was  with  you  less  than 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  ago,  at  Chester's,  and  you 
came  away  from  there  together.  That's  what  he 
told  the  inspector  over  the  telephone.  Ain't  she 
here?" 

"Certainly  not.  These  are  bachelor  quarters, 
lieutenant.  The  only  woman  in  the  house  is  Scipio's 
— he  is  my  valet — grandmother;  and  even  she  is  a 
late  importation ;  but  I  found  that  I  needed  a  house- 
keeper and  cook.  Won't  you  sit  down?" 

"No,  I  won't.  If  Lady  Kate  isn't  here,  where  is 
she?"  Rushton  answered  angrily.  He  knew  that 
Clancy  was  taunting  him  and  making  silent  fun  of 
him — and  he  hated  Tom  Clancy  almost  as  much  as 
he  did  the  Night  Wind. 

"Really,  lieutenant,  I  haven't  the  least  idea  where 
she  is,"  Clancy  replied. 

"That's  a — a  likely  story,  that  is.  If  she  ain't 
here  you  know  where  she  went  to  after  you  parted 
with  her." 

"On  the  contrary,  I  do  not  know.  She  was  quite 
willing  to  tell  me,  and  started  to  do  so,  but  I  stopped 
her,  because  I  was  quite  well  aware  that  inquiries 
would  be  made  of  me.  So,  I  don't  know,  any  more 
than  you  do,  Rushton." 


28       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Say,  Clancy,  I've  got  more'n  half  a  notion  to 
clap  the  irons  onto  you  and  take 

"Oh,  no  you  haven't.  Don't  bluff,  Rushton — 
not  with  me.  I'm  more  than  seven,  and  am  quite 
able  to  walk  alone." 

"Say,  Clancy" — Rushton  came  a  step  nearer  and 
thrust  out  his  chin  aggressively — "Miss  Katherine 
Maxwell  is  in  the  city,  an'  the  inspector  wants  to 
see  her,  right  now.  If  you  don't  tell  us  where  to 
find  her •" 

"If  that  is  all,"  Clancy  interrupted,  "you  are  only 
wasting  your  time  seeking  her." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?" 

"It  is  quite  as  much  her  desire  to  see  the  inspector 
as  it  is  his  to  see  her,"  Tom  replied.  "That  is  what 
I  mean,  exactly." 

"Huh!    Tell  it  to  Sweeny." 

"I  am  telling  it  to  you.  It  is  the  present  inten- 
tion of  Lady  Kate  to  call  at  police  headquarters  in 
the  morning.  You  might  convey  that  message  to 
the  inspector  and  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,  lieu- 
tenant." 

"Say,  do  you  mean  that,  Clancy?  Is  that  on  the 
level?" 

"Certainly." 

"Blowed  if  it  ain't  just  like  her,  at  that.  What 
time?  Huh!" 

"The  lady  did  not  admit  me  that  far  into  her  con- 
fidence," Clancy  replied. 


THE  INSPECTOR'S  PRIVATE  OFFICE     29 

"Anyhow,  I  believe  you.     Say?" 

"Well,  lieutenant?" 

"Where  is  he  at?  The  Night  Wind,  I  mean. 
That's  what  we  want  to  know." 

"Naturally.  It  is,  at  least,  what  you  want  to 
know,  Rushton,  and  what  you  are  a  little  bit  afraid 
to  hear  told,  too.  To  the  best  of  my  belief,  lieu- 
tenant, Mr.  Bingham  Harvard  is  somewhere  in  the 
city  of  London  awaiting  a  message  which  will  sum- 
mon him  here,  and  you  can  play  it  a  hundred  to 
one  that  it  won't  take  him  long  to  get  here  when 
he  receives  that  message." 

Rushton  left  the  chair  where  he  had  been  stand- 
ing and  started  for  the  front  door,  uttering  a  curt 
command  to  his  companion  to  follow.  At  the  front 
door  he  turned. 

"When  the  Night  Wind  does  come  here  we'll  get 
him,  good  and  plenty ;  you  take  it  from  me,  Clancy. 
If  he  pokes  his  nose  into  little  old  New  York  just 
once  more  he'll  get  what  is  coming  to  him,  and 
then  some;  and  so,  if  you've  got  any  means  of 
sendin'  word  to  him,  you'd  better  advise  him  to 
travel  in  the  other  direction.  There  won't  be  any 
foolin',  if  he  shows  up  here  again,"  he  said.  "Be- 
sides bein'  a  thief,  he  has  done  enough  other  acts 
to  send  him  away  for  a  century." 

The  lieutenant  passed  through  the  doorway  to- 
ward the  street,  and  Clancy's  pleasantly  derisive 
voice  followed  him,  and  the  sting  of  the  words  that 


80        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Clancy  uttered  made  him  halt  at  the  top  of  the  steps 
outside. 

"I  think,  Rushton,"  the  young  broker  said,  "that 
you  and  Coniglio,  and  the  others  who  have  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  Bing  Harvard,  should  organize  a 
secret  order  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  him  down. 
Don't  you?  You  might  call  it  'The  Society  of  Crip- 
pled Cops.'  Eh?  What?  Good  night,  or,  rather, 
good  morning  to  you."  Clancy  closed  the  door  be- 
fore Rushton  could  reply. 

The  air  of  subdued  excitement  which  pervaded 
police  headquarters  the  following  morning  might 
be  likened  to  that  breathless  interval  of  elemental 
suspense  which  obtains  just  before  the  descent  of  a 
tropical  tornado. 

Information  had  somehow  gone  forth  and  had 
been  passed  from  lip  to  ear  throughout  the  depart- 
ment that  the  Night  Wind  had  returned;  or,  if  he 
had  not  actually  returned  as  yet,  he  was  on  the 
point  of  coming  back ;  and,  anyhow,  Lady  Kate  was 
back. 

And  Lady  Kate  was  due  to  arrive  at  headquarters 
during  the  forenoon  by  her  own  invitation.  She 
intended  to  face  all  of  them,  from  the  inspector 
down;  and,  while  it  was  not  known  for  a  fact,  it 
was  nevertheless  generally  believed  Lady  Kate  had 
gone  away  with  the  Night  Wind  when  he  disap- 
peared. (Banker  Chester  had  not  informed  head- 


THE  INSPECTOR'S  PRIVATE  OFFICE     31 

quarters  that  Miss  Katharine  Maxwell  had  become 
Mrs.  Bingham  Harvard.  He  had  kept  that  bit  of 
information  to  himself,  either  because  he  deemed 
it  unimportant,  or  because  he  did  not  believe  it. ) 

She  arrived  at  precisely  eleven  o'clock. 

In  the  big  room  of  the  detective  bureau  there  fell 
a  decided  hush  upon  all  who  were  present  the 
moment  she  entered  it;  and  there  was  an  unusual 
gathering  in  that  same  big  room.  Excuses  and 
actual  permission  to  be  present  had  been  sought  by 
many  of  the  men,  uniformed  and  otherwise,  who 
had  in  the  past  been  in  more  or  less  violent  contact 
with  the  dreaded  Night  Wind. 

The  coming  of  Lady  Kate  portended  something, 
and  nobody  could  guess  what  that  something  might 
be. 

She  halted  for  an  instant  just  outside  the  door. 
Her  eyes,  with  the  swiftness  of  a  humming  bird, 
flew  from  face  to  face.  An  inscrutable  smile  lin- 
gered in  her  expression.  Then  she  crossed  the  room 
to  one  of  the  flat-topped  desks  and  said  to  the  offi- 
cer who  was  seated  behind  it : 

"How  do  you  do,  Lieutenant  Courtleigh  ?  I  wish 
to  see  the  inspector.  Will  you  tell  him  that  I  am 
here?" 

"It  isn't  necessary,"  was  the  quick  reply,  as  Court- 
leigh started  to  his  feet  and  extended  his  right  hand 
which  Lady  Kate  accepted  with  hearty  good  will. 
Courtleigh  was  one  of  several  for  whom  she  re- 


32        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

tained  a  respectful  and  personal  liking.  "He  is 
expecting  you.  The  deputy  commissioner  is  with 
him.  You  may  go  right  inside,  Lady  Kate." 

"Thank  you,"  she  said;  and  did  so. 

Both  men  got  upon  their  feet  when  Lady  Kate 
entered  the  private  office,  although  neither  had  in- 
tended to  do  so.  But  there  was  some  indefinite 
compelling  force  in  her  presence  that  made  them 
rise  involuntarily.  Each,  also,  one  after  the  other, 
extended  a  hand  in  greeting.  She  accepted  each 
one  gravely,  then  relaxed  upon  a  chair  which  the 
deputy  commissioner  pulled  forward  for  her  ac- 
commodation. 

"This  is  an  unexpected  pleasure,  Miss  Maxwell," 
the  inspector  announced,  also  with  gravity.  And 
Katherine  permitted  the  name  to  pass  without  cor- 
rection while  she  replied : 

"Are  you  quite  sure  that  it  is  a  pleasure,  in- 
spector?" 

"Yes.  Or,  at  least,  it  can  easily  be  made  so  if 
you  are  prepared  to  return  to  us  and  to  aid  us  in 
the  dearest  wish  we  have.  I  assume  that  both  of 
those  reasons  will  account  for  your  presence  here 
to-day." 

She  smiled  into  his  eyes  enigmatically.  "The 
assumption  of  conditions  that  are  not  established 
is  the  beam  in  the  eye  of  the  detective  bureau,  is  it 
not?"  she  asked  whimsically.  "I  have  returned;  I 
am  here  as  the  personal  representative  of  Mr.  Bing- 


THE  INSPECTOR'S  PRIVATE  OFFICE     33 

ham  Harvard,  alias  the  Night  Wind,  whom,  I  be- 
lieve, you  will  remember,  inspector.  I  have  no  idea 
of  returning  to  the  bureau,  if  that  is  what  you 
mean." 

"Where  is  Bingham  Harvard  now,  Miss  Max- 
well?" the  deputy  commissioner  interposed. 

"It  is  perhaps  sufficient  answer  to  reply  that  he 
is  not  here,"  she  responded  coolly. 

"Mr.  Chester,  the  banker,  informed  this  depart- 
ment last  night  that  the  man  is  in  London  awaiting 
a  summons  from  you  to  come  here.  Is  that  cor- 
rect?" 

"This  department  is  so  in  the  habit  of  accepting 
Mr.  Chester's  statements  without  a  question  that  it 
would  ill  become  me  to  add  to  or  detract  from  any 
statement  that  he  might  make,"  she  retorted  with 
easy  irony. 

"We  play  with  words,  Miss  Maxwell." 

"No;  you  play  with  truth,  which  can  never  be 
successfully  denied  for  long.  /  am  here,  Mr.  Com- 
missioner, as  the  agent  of  destiny,  in  the  person 
of  Bingham  Harvard,  alias  the  Night  Wind." 

"Are  we  to  understand  that  he  has  sent  you  here 
to  interpose  for  him — to  make  terms  with  us — with 
this  department?"  the  inspector  interjected. 

Lady  Kate  lifted  her  chin  and  turned  her  eyes 
coolly  upon  the  chief  of  the  bureau. 

"I  am  here  as  much  in  your  own  interests  as  in 
his,"  she  replied;  "to  demand  that  justice  be  done 


34       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

to  a  man  who  has  been  foully  wronged.  I  am  here 
to  insist  that  this  department  take  up  the  case  of 
the  year-old  theft  at  Chester's  bank  as  if  it  hap- 
pened yesterday;  to  compel  you,  in  one  way  or  an- 
other, to  seek  and  find  the  real  thief,  so  that  the 
name  of  Bingham  Harvard  may  be  cleansed  of 
the  stigma  that  rests  upon  it." 

"That  is  a  pretty  big  order,  isn't  it?"  the  deputy 
inquired  with  half  a  sneer. 

"No.  It  is  a  simple  one.  You  both  know  in 
your  hearts  that  he  is  innocent,  and  that  Rushton 
deliberately  framed  the  whole  case  against  him," 
she  replied. 

"One  moment,  Lady  Kate !"  The  inspector  bent 
forward  in  his  chair.  "That  is  a  serious  charge 
for  you  to  make  in  this  office.  We  won't  stand 
for  it." 

She  bent  forward,  too,  toward  him.  "You  will 
have  to  stand  for  it,  inspector,  just  as  you  will 
have  to  take  the  consequences  of  what  you  have 
already  stood  for  in  this  matter.  I  am  not  here 
to  supplicate.  I  came  to  offer  you  an  opportunity 
to  escape  from  a  serious  difficulty  in  which  you  and 
every  man  connected  with  this  bureau  are  involved. 
And  you  had  better  accept  that  opportunity  before 
it  is  too  late,  for  as  surely  as  you  are  you,  every 
man  among  you  who  has  aided  and  abetted  the 
outrage  that  has  been  done  will  be  made  to  pay, 
pay,  pay!" 


THE  INSPECTOR'S  PRIVATE  OFFICE     35 

"Your  statement  has  the  sound  of  a  threat,  Miss 
Maxwell,"  said  the  deputy. 

"It  is  a  prophecy,  Mr.  Commissioner." 

"Do  I  understand  that  you  went  abroad  with  this 
man  whom  we  call  the  Night  Wind?" 

"Yes,"  she  replied. 

"And  that  he  is  over  there  on  the  other  side  now, 
awaiting  a  message  from  you?" 

"You  may  assume  that  if  you  like." 

"Are  you  aware  that  in  the  light  of  that  con- 
fession you  are  liable  to  arrest?" 

She  only  smiled  at  him  in  reply.     He  continued : 

"You  have  given  aid  and  succor  and  sustenance 
to  a  man  who  stands  indicted  for  a  felony — to  a 
fugitive  from  justice;  and  as  such " 

Lady  Kate  got  slowly  upon  her  feet,  and  her  man- 
ner was  such  that  the  deputy  commissioner  paused 
without  completing  the  sentence. 

"It  is  you  who  threaten,  not  I,"  she  said  delib- 
erately; "but  you  do  not  realize  how  helpless  you 
are  when  you  make  that  threat.  Did  you  suppose 
that  Katherine  Maxwell  went  abroad  with  Bing- 
ham  Harvard  as  his  companion,  merely;  as  his 
mistress,  perhaps?  Shame  on  you  both  for  har- 
boring such  a  thought!  I  have  given  you  ample 
opportunity  to  address  me  by  my  right  name,  and 
you  have  chosen  to  ignore  it.  Very  well.  Know, 
then,  that  I  am  Bingham  Harvard's  wife;  that  we 
were  married  in  the  State  of  Connecticut  two  weeks 


36       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

before  we  left  this  country  together.  Put  me  under 
arrest  now,  if  you  like,  and  see  what  comes  of  it. 
But  you  will  not !  You  dare  not !  Therefore,  know 
this:  I  shall  send  a  cable  to  my  husband  this  very 
day,  summoning  him  to  return — and  he  will  come. 
You  may  figure  it  out  for  yourselves  when  he  is 
due  to  arrive,  and  you  may  meet  the  incoming 
steamships  in  the  hope  of  getting  him. 

"But,  gentlemen,  you  will  not  get  him.    He  will 
get  you." 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   NIGHT    WIND'S   PROPHECY 

Six  and  one-half  days  later,  that  is  to  say  at 
eleven  o'clock  at  night  of  the  sixth  day  after  Lady 
Kate  made  her  call  at  police  headquarters,  some- 
thing happened. 

The  inspector  left  his  chair  in  his  private  office, 
seized  his  hat,  and  with  a  curt  nod  here  and  there 
as  he  passed  through  the  big  room,  went  outside. 
In  the  corridor  he  encountered  the  deputy  commis- 
sioner. Both  came  to  a  halt.  The  deputy  com- 
missioner said: 

"Well?" 

"The  Golgotha  has  passed  Fire  Island  light. 
She'll  dock  in  the  morning,"  was  the  reply  of  the 
inspector.  "I  have  sent  two  men  down  on  the  pilot- 
boat  that  will  pick  her  up ;  two  others  will  meet  her 
at  quarantine.  I  have  let  Rushton  pick  his  own 
men  to  meet  the  ship  at  the  pier — and  I  shall  be 
there  myself,  of  course." 

"Perhaps  the  Night  Wind  isn't  aboard  of  the 
37 


38       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Golgotha.  Maybe  he  didn't  obey  the  summons  of 
Lady  Kate,"  the  commissioner  suggested. 

"That  is  possible,  of  course — though  I  doubt  it. 
If  he  isn't  aboard  the  Golgotha,  he  will  come  on 
the  next  ship,  or  by  another  one,  later.  The  Gol- 
gotha is  the  first  one  he  could  have  caught  after  the 
receipt  of  her  cable." 

"It's  strange  that  Scotland  Yard  wasn't  able  to 
spot  him  going  aboard  of  the  ship,  after  our  urgent 
messages,"  the  commissioner  grumbled. 

"He's  too  slick  for  that  bunch,"  the  inspector  re- 
plied. 

"You  are,  then,  of  the  opinion  that  he  is  on  the 
Golgotha?" 

"It  is  the  very  first  ship  he  could  have  taken. 
Yes;  I've  got  a  hunch  that  he  is  aboard  of  her." 

"Your  wireless  messages  haven't  uncovered  him, 
inspector." 

"Oh,  well,  he's  disguised,  of  course — and  he 
wouldn't  do  such  a  thing  unless  he  did  it  thor- 
oughly. Harvard  isn't  an  ordinary  man,  commis- 
sioner ;  he's  a  marvel,  with  a  big  M." 

The  commissioner  shook  his  head  as  if  still  in 
doubt,  said  "Good  night,"  swung  about,  and  de- 
parted. The  inspector  gazed  after  him  grimly  for 
a  moment,  then  went  on  his  own  way. 

His  destination  was  home,  and  he  was  tired. 
The  strain  of  the  past  week  in  preparing  for  the 
possible  event  of  to-morrow  had  told  upon  him. 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  PROPHECY       39 

He  wished  above  all  things  to  be  fresh  and  clear- 
headed for  the  possible  ordeal  of  the  coming  day. 

He  boarded  a  Broadway  car  and  rode  to  Colum- 
bus Circle.  From  there  he  strode  briskly  up  Cen- 
tral Park  West  for  several  blocks,  then  turned  into 
.a  side  street,  and  mounted  the  brown-stone  steps  of 
his  own  residence. 

He  had  inserted  the  latch-key  and  was  about  to 
turn  it  when  he  heard  the  sound  of  his  own  name 
uttered  in  a  low  tone,  close  behind  him,  and  he 
wheeled  around  with  surprising  suddenness  while 
his  right  hand  flew  to  the  pocket  where  he  carried 
his  gun. 

His  wrist  was  seized  and  held  before  he  could 
draw;  then  the  grasp  that  held  it  was  slowly  re- 
laxed. A  pair  of  earnest  eyes,  half  smiling  but 
infinitely  serious,  looked  calmly  into  his  own  startled 
ones.  His  hands  dropped  to  his  sides. 

"Good  God!"  he  breathed,  but  not  profanely,  and 
scarcely  above  a  whisper. 

"You  have  not  forgotten  me,  I  see,"  said  the 
other  man.  "The  Night  Wind  has  returned,  in- 
spector. Are  you — perhaps — pleased  to  see  me? 
Don't  tremble  so,  man  alive!  You  are  not  afraid. 
I  know  that.  You  are  only  knocked  out  of  your 
natural  orbit.  Besides,  I  did  not  come  here  to  hurt 
you — unless  you  attempt  to  hurt  me;  and  I  don't 
believe  you  will  do  that  now." 

"How   in How  the How'd  you  get 


40        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

here,  Harvard?  Have  you  got  wings?"  the  in- 
spector managed  to  articulate.  His  surprise  was 
profound.  It  had  overwhelmed  him  for  the  mo- 
ment. 

"My  wife  summoned  me.  I  came.  That  is  all. 
It  is  enough,  isn't  it?" 

"But — the  Golgotha!  She  was  the  first  ship  you 
could  have  taken  after  that  cable  was  sent.  Bah! 
You  have  been  here  all  the  time." 

"Oh,  no,  I  have  not;  and  no,  I  did  not.  Look 
at  this,  inspector,  if  you  would  be  convinced." 

The  Night  Wind  produced  a  folded  message  from 
one  of  his  pockets  and  passed  it  to  the  inspector. 
It  was  dated  six  days  back — the  day  of  Lady  Kate's 
call  at  headquarters,  and  it  read : 

Come  now.    Catch  Golgotha  if  possible. 

KATHERINE. 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  sailed  from 
Southampton  on  board  the  Golgotha?"  the  inspector 
demanded  hotly. 

The  Night  Wind  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "It 
isn't  necessary  to  reply  to  that  question,  is  it?"  he 
made  answer.  "At  all  events,  I  am  here,  as  you 
see.  Knowing  that  you  would  have  a  couple  of 
men  on  the  pilot-boat  to  meet  the  Golgotha,  and 
that  there  would  be  others  at  quarantine,  and  still 
others — probably  including  yourself — at  the  pier,  I 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  PROPHECY       41 

chose  to  anticipate  them.  I  had  an  intense  longing 
to  see  you  and  to  talk  with  you,  inspector.  That 
explains  why  I  am  standing  with  you  now  on  your 
own  door-step.  Odd,  isn't  it,  that  we  should  meet 
in  this  friendly  manner  at  this  time  ?" 

"What  do  you  want?"  the  inspector  demanded 
gruffly. 

"Justice.  Nothing  more  nor  less;  but  full  and 
complete  justice.  That  is  what  I  have  come  here 
to  get,  and  that  is  what  I  am  going  to  have,"  was 
the  slow  and  carefully  worded  but  emphatic  reply. 

"You'll  get  it,  all  right;  more  than  you  want  of 
it." 

"Thank  you.  I  will  accept  that  prophecy  as  it 
sounds,  not  as  you  imply  it." 

"What  do  you  want  of  me?" 

"First,  that  you  quell  the  itching  of  that  right 
palm  of  yours,  which  seems  to  have  a  tendency  to 
glide  closer  to  the  pocket  where  you  carry  a  weapon. 
Shall  I  relieve  you  of  the  gun,  inspector — you  know 
that  I  can  do  so — or  shall  we  talk  together  ami- 
cably?" 

The  officer  grinned  in  spite  of  himself.  The 
situation  was  not  without  its  humorous  aspect,  and 
he  was  quite  conscious  of  it. 

"We'll  declare  a  truce  for  the  present  meeting, 
Harvard,"  he  said.  "Will  you  come  inside?  I  can 
offer  you  a  cigar  and  a  swallow  of  Scotch." 


42        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"I  neither  smoke  nor  drink,  thank  you.  We  will 
talk  here.  Shall  we  sit  down  on  the  steps?" 

"Yes.  That  brings  me  back  to  my  last  question, 
Harvard.  What  do  you  want  of  me?" 

"Inspector,  I  came  here  to  ask  a  manly  favor  at 
your  hands ;  but  one  which  you  will  probably  deny. 
If  you  do  deny  it,  then  to  give  you  a  warning — 
not  a  threat,  understand.  If  you  decline  to  heed 
the  warning,  it  will  become  my  duty  in  that  case 
to  read  you  a  short  prophecy  which  will  not  be 
pleasant  to  hear,  nor  in  its  fulfilment." 

They  were  seated  side  by  side  on  the  top  step 
by  then.  The  inspector  had  lighted  a  cigar  and 
was  puffing  vigorously  upon  it.  He  shrugged  his 
shoulders. 

"What's  the  favor?"  he  demanded  briefly. 

"That  you  grant  me  six  weeks'  immunity — or 
truce,  if  you  prefer  that  word — from  outlawry, 
during  which  time  I  shall  be  free  to  go  and  come 
as  I  see  fit,  unmolested;  and  that  you  assist  me 
with  all  the  power  of  your  department  to  find  the 
man  who  stole  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thou- 
sand dollars  from  Chester's  bank;  and  that,  in  the 
mean  time,  and  during  those  six  weeks,  Lieutenant 
Rodney  Rushton  be  relieved  from  duty,"  was  the 
calm  reply. 

The  inspector  removed  the  cigar  from  his  mouth 
and  turned  to  stare  at  the  man  beside  him.  Then 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  PROPHECY        43 

he  laughed  aloud  derisively,  but  with  genuine 
amusement,  too. 

"Is  that  all?"  he  exclaimed.  "You  don't  want 
much,  do  you?  Why  don't  you  demand  my  job 
during  those  six  weeks,  while  you  are  about  it? 
That  isn't  gall,  Harvard;  that's  gizzard;  no  less; 
and  it's  full  of  gravel  at  that.  What's  the  warn- 
ing?" 

"The  warning  is  this :  if  you  deny  me  the  favor 
I  ask,  it  will  mean  that  you,  and  others  who  are 
near  to  you  down-town,  will  be  compelled,  before 
very  long,  to  hand  in  your  resignations  from  the 
police  department  in  order  to  avoid  summary  dis- 
missal." 

The  inspector  chuckled  audibly. 

"Bully!"  he  exclaimed.  "You're  a  corker,  Har- 
vard. No  wonder  they  called  you  the  Night  Wind ; 
although  it  strikes  me  that  Hot  Air  would  have 
been  more  appropriate.  Now — and  be  as  gentle  as 
you  can  about  it — what's  the  prophecy?" 

"This:  There  will  be,  within  the  year  in  your 
department,  and  throughout  the  entire  service  which 
you,  and  men  like  Rushton,  do  so  much  to  discredit, 
the  greatest  upheaval  in  its  history.  I  have  been 
absent  six  months,  but  I  have  not  been  idle — nor 
have  my  best  friends  been  inactive;  and  I  have 
four  such  friends." 

"Is  that  all?" 

"No.     Some  among  you  will  be  indicted,  tried. 


44        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

convicted,  and  sent  to  prison.  Some  will  be  dis- 
missed. Some  will  resign.  Are  you  so  blind,  in- 
spector, that  you  cannot  see  the  writing  on  the 
wall?  Or  won't  you  see  it?" 

"Does  that  end  the  prophecy?"  the  inspector  in- 
quired, ignoring  the  questions. 

"Yes.  And  now  I  have  a  short  statement  to 
make." 

"Fine.  What  is  it?  A  confession  of  guilt?  It 
is  time  for  that,  I  think." 

Harvard  got  upon  his  feet  and  stood  four  steps 
lower  down,  facing  the  inspector.  His  back  was 
toward  the  street;  but  he  had  seen,  before  he 
changed  his  position,  that  a  patrolman  on  his  beat 
had  turned  the  corner  and  was  slowly  approaching 
them.  Nevertheless,  he  gave  no  sign  that  he  had 
seen,  although  he  knew  that  the  inspector  had  made 
the  same  discovery — or  had  been  anticipating  it. 

"I  am  going  to  the  root  of  things,  inspector,"  the 
Night  Wind  said  with  slow  emphasis.  "I  am  not 
the  only  victim  of  a  frame-up.  There  are  others — • 
hundreds  of  them;  there  have  been  thousands.  I 
have  come  back  here  to  fight  you  with  your  own 
weapons,  and  to  a  finish.  Your  'system'  denied  to 
my  wife  the  favor  she  sought,  and  you  have  de- 
nied me;  so  henceforth  there  shall  be  no  favors 
asked  or  granted. 

"Your  men  named  me  the  Night  Wind  months 
ago  because  I  moved  swiftly  and  silently,  and  be- 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  PROPHECY        45 

cause  God  gave  me  sinews  and  muscles  greater  and 
stronger  than  most  men's.  But  I  thank  God  for 
them,  although  they  are  as  much  a  phenomenon  to 
me  as  they  are  to  you. 

"But  if  I  have  been  a  Night  Wind  in  the  past 
I  will  be  a  hurricane,  a  tornado,  a  veritable  tempest, 
in  the  future ;  and  so  take  heed  lest  you  walk  blindly 
into  the  vortex  of  it  and  are  destroyed.  That  is, 
I  believe,  all  that  I  have  to  say.  And  please  under- 
stand that  these  several  appeals  have  been  made  to 
you,  not  with  any  idea  or  hope  that  they  would  be 
granted,  but  solely  because  I  have  conceived  it  to 
be  my  duty  to  make  them." 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  watching  the  in- 
spector narrowly;  and  that  officer  sat  immovable 
upon  the  step,  but  with  a  certain  intensity  about 
his  pose  which  indicated  plainly  enough  the  nearer 
approach  of  the  patrolman. 

"I  know  who  is  coming,"  the  Night  Wind  said 
quietly;  and  the  inspector  started  guiltily.  "You 
will  sit  very  still,  inspector,  and  permit  him  to  pass." 

"But  he  won't  pass;  that's  the  trouble.  He  will 
see  me  and  he'll  stop  to  talk." 

"In  that  case  you  will  tell  him  that  you  don't 
wish  to  be  interrupted,"  the  Night  Wind  said 
quietly. 

"Suppose  he  comes  up  the  steps,  and  sees  you, 
and  recognizes  you?" 


46       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"So  much  the  worse  for  him — and  for  you.  But 
you  can  prevent  it  if  you  will." 

The  patrolman  came  nearer.  He  discovered  the 
inspector  seated  upon  the  steps  and  stopped,  call- 
ing out  a  "How  are  you,  inspector?"  as  he  did  so. 
Then  he  put  a  foot  upon  the  lowest  step,  as  if  to 
ascend  them. 

Harvard  heard  that  footfall.  His  back  was  to- 
ward the  policeman,  and  he  could  not  see  him; 
but  he  took  one  step  upward  and  forward,  bring- 
ing himself  beside  the  inspector,  who  made  no  at- 
tempt to  rise  or  to  speak.  Then  Harvard  turned 
and  faced  the  newcomer. 

It  was  Compton,  an  acquaintance  of  those  other 
days,  and  the  recognition  between  him  and  the 
Night  Wind  was  mutual  and  instant. 

Compton  gasped.  Then  he  swore.  Then,  like 
the  popping  of  a  safety  valve,  he  cried  out: 

"The  Night  Wind,  by  all  that's- 

Then,  without  completing  the  sentence,  he  sprang 
upward. 

The  inspector,  at  the  same  instant,  started  to 
his  feet. 


CHAPTER   V 

A    STRATEGIC   VICTORY 

The  Night  Wind's  method  of  meeting  this  sud- 
den attack  upon  him  was  perhaps  the  most  amaz- 
ing of  all  his  acts. 

He  inevitably  did  the  surprising  thing — the  un- 
expected. He  certainly  performed  one  at  that  try- 
ing moment  when  it  was  given  to  him  to  act  quickly 
and  finally,  or  to  be  captured.  For,  be  it  known 
here  and  now,  Bingham  Harvard,  alias  the  Night 
Wind,  had  returned  to  New  York,  fully  determined 
to  maim  no  more  cops  and  to  break  no  more  bones, 
as  he  had  done  in  that  former  experience  of  his — 
unless  it  should  become  imperatively  necessary  in 
order  to  escape  premature  arrest. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  he  had  spoken  to  the  in- 
spector just  at  the  instant  when  the  officer  had  in- 
serted the  key  in  the  latch  of  the  door,  and  that 
the  inspector  had  wheeled  about  and  reached  for 
his  gun,  startled  by  hearing  a  voice  so  near  to  him. 

And  so  the  officer's  key  had  been  left  in  the  door- 
47 


48        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

latch;  and  Bingham  Harvard  had  taken  note  of 
that  fact.  Not  with  a  thought  of  making  use  of 
it,  for  that  did  not  occur  to  him,  but  merely  as  an 
incident.  His  career  as  a  fugitive  from  justice  had 
taught  him  to  observe  closely  the  most  trivial  things. 

Patrolman  Compton  started  to  mount  the  steps, 
Harvard  sprang  to  the  top  of  them  and  turned 
half  about  almost  behind  the  inspector,  and  the 
inspector  started  to  his  feet  all  at  the  selfsame  in- 
stant. 

And  this  is  what  happened  then: 

The  Night  Wind  pushed  the  inspector  forward 
with  sudden  force  into  the  arms  of  the  patrolman, 
and  in  the  brief  instant  while  they  struggled  to 
free  themselves  from  each  other — an  instant  which 
could  have  occupied  little  more  than  a  natural  sec- 
ond of  time — he  wheeled,  turned  the  latch-key 
which  the  inspector  had  left  in  the  door,  withdrew 
it,  and  pushed  the  door  open  at  the  same  time,  clos- 
ing it  swiftly  and  silently  behind  him. 

Confusion  sometimes  attacks  the  most  sensible 
of  men;  it  fell  upon  both  of  those  police  officers 
then. 

The  Night  Wind  had  disappeared,  and  neither 
of  them  had  seen  him  go.  One  of  them — Comp- 
ton— could  not  even  guess  where  or  how  he  had 
gone. 

A  second  thought,  however,  brought  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  to  the  inspector's  mind,  for 


A  STRATEGIC  VICTORY 49 

he  remembered  that  he  had  left  the  key  in  the  door ; 
and  he  smiled  grimly  at  the  mingled  consternation 
and  fright  that  was  depicted  upon  the  face  of  the 
patrolman. 

Compton  actually  gasped. 

During  the  instant  that  the  inspector  had  strug- 
gled in  his  arms,  shutting  off  his  view,  the  Night 
Wind  had  apparently  flown  away. 

"Say,  inspector,"  he  breathed  hoarsely,  "that  guy 
ain't  human." 

The  inspector  laughed  aloud,  and  intended  the 
laugh  to  be  as  much  a  reassurance  to  the  Night 
Wind,  who  he  had  no  doubt  was  waiting  just  in- 
side the  vestibule,  as  a  relief  to  his  own  emotions 
of  the  moment — and  Compton's,  likewise. 

"He's  just  as  human  as  we  are,  Compton,"  he 
replied,  loudly  enough  for  the  man  inside  the  vesti- 
bule to  hear.  "He's  a  little  bit  quicker  in  his  mo- 
tions and  a  good  deal  stronger  in  his  muscles  than 
most  of  us;  that  is  all.  You  beat  it  now,  and  see 
that  you  forget  everything  that  has  happened  here 
to-night;  forget  even  that  you  saw  either  of  us." 

"But"' — Compton  hesitated — "where  is  he? 
Where'd  he  go  to?" 

The  inspector  jerked  his  thumb  toward  the  house 
door. 

"Beat  it,"  he  ordered  again,  "and  don't  forget 
what  I  said  about  this  affair." 


50        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"I — I  didn't  know  that  he  was  back  here,"  Comp- 
ton  replied,  still  hesitating. 

"Nor  I — until  less  than  half  an  hour  ago.  I'll 
phone  to  your  captain  to  send  you  down  to  see  me 
some  time  to-morrow.  See  that  you  keep  your 
mouth  shut  till  then.  Duck  now,  and  see  how  quick 
you  can  get  around  that  next  corner,  out  of  sight." 

A  moment  or  two  later,  when  Compton  had 
turned  the  corner  and  disappeared,  the  inspector 
addressed  the  closed  vestibule  door. 

"All  right,  Harvard,"  he  said.  "The  truce  still 
goes.  My  gun  remains  in  my  pocket  and  my  arms 
are  folded.  Come  out." 

Harvard  opened  the  door  and  stepped  outside. 
He  was  smiling,  and  there  was  an  unmistakable 
grin  depicted  upon  the  face  of  the  inspector. 

"Say,"  he  said,  not  without  enthusiasm  at  the 
thought,  "I'd  give  a  lot  if  I  had  you  down  at  the 
bureau  working  with  us.  You'd  make  a  peach  of  a 
man  for  us." 

"Oh,  no,  I  would  not!"  Harvard  replied.  "I'm 
honest." 

"Do  you  think  that  a  man  has  got  to  be  dis- 
honest in  order  to  be  a  policeman  or  a  detective?" 
the  inspector  demanded.  "Do  you  think  every  man- 
jack  of  us  is  a  crook?" 

"By  no  means.  The  dishonest  cop,  the  crooked 
detective — the  men  like  Rushton — are  the  excep- 
tions, inspector.  I  believe  the  rank  and  file  of  your 


A  STRATEGIC  VICTORY 61 

department  to  be  about  the  best  and  finest  men  in 
the  world,  take  them  all  in  all.  But  the  trouble 
is  that  when  one  of  them  who  is  not  on  the  level 
does  something  like  what  Rushton  did  to  me,  you 
all  stand  for  him  and  for  his  act,  even  though 
you  know  him  to  be  wrong.  It  is  your  mistaken 
sense  of  loyalty  to  one  another." 

"Oh,  well,  we'll  let  it  go  at  that.  Sit  down  here 
for  another  moment.  I  want  to  ask  you  three  or 
four  questions." 

"I  can  reply  to  them  quite  as  well  standing." 

"You  have  made  me  like  you  to-night.  I  never 
did  before." 

"That  isn't  a  question." 

"How  do  you  suppose  that  Rushton  convinced 
me  and  others  of  your  guilt  in  regard  to  that  miss- 
ing money  at  the  bank  where  you  were  paying- 
teller?" 

"If  I  should  reply  frankly  to  that  question  you 
would  not  consider  it  complimentary,  inspector." 

"Nevertheless,  reply.  We're  talking  straight 
from  the  shoulder  now." 

"Then  you  must  have  been  a  fool  or  a  knave  to 
have  been  convinced  by  so  shallow  a  frame-up  as 
that  was;  and,  inspector,  I  know  that  you  are  not 
a  fool." 

"That  is  plain  speaking,  at  least." 

"You  asked  for  it." 

"Look  here,  Harvard,  why  don't  you  give  your- 


52       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

self  up  and  stand  your  trial?  If  you  will  do 
that " 

"I  will  not  do  it,  so  save  your  breath." 

"Well,  then,  I  will  say  this,  and  I  ask  you  to  be- 
lieve me,  for  I  am  in  earnest :  I  accepted  the  evi- 
dence that  Rushton  supplied  in  exactly  the  same 
way  that  your  banker  friend  Chester  accepted  it. 
If  it  was  a  frame-up,  which  I  still  doubt,  I  had  no 
knowledge  of  it,  and  have  none  now.  I  am  only 
the  skipper  on  the  bridge  of  that  big  ship  that  we 
call  the  detective  bureau — and  it  is  a  big  ship  to 
handle.  I  can't  always  tell  if  the  lookout  in  the 
crow's  nest  is  seeing  things  as  they  are,  or  as  he 
would  like  to  see  them.  I  have  to  take  his  word 
for  it  and  accept  the  evidence  he  brings  to  me ;  and 
I'd  be  a  poor  officer  if  I  didn't  have  faith  in  my 
men,  wouldn't  I?" 

Harvard  looked  intently  into  the  eyes  of  the  in- 
spector before  he  replied.  Then  he  said : 

"Do  I  understand  now  that  you  are  beginning 
to  be  willing  to  give  me  the  benefit  of  the  doubt?" 

"No.  I  still  believe  that  you  are  guilty.  I've 
got  to.  But  I  want  you  to  understand  that  I  be- 
lieve it  honestly." 

"Then — you  are  a  fool,  after  all." 

The  inspector  flushed  hotly  and  did  not  reply. 

"Do  you  believe,  inspector,  that  Lieutenant  Rod- 
ney Rushton — • —  Oh,  what's  the  use?  We  only 
play  with  words.  Shall  I  tell  you  the  literal  truth 


A  STRATEGIC  VICTORY 


regarding  your  present  position  in  regard  to  this 
matter?  I  will,  anyhow.  You  dare  not  disbelieve 
Rushton,  because  the  very  fact  of  doing  so  would 
lead  to  the  uncovering  of  certain  things  connected 
with  your  own  career  which  you  very  much  prefer 
to  keep  hidden.  Your  system  is  so  involved  that 
a  man  like  yourself,  who  would  like  to  be  honest 
and  square,  can't  be;  and  there  are  a  lot  more  like 
you.  But,  also,  there  are  others  who  are  unlike 
you,  who  will  keep  on  the  level  at  any  cost;  and, 
inspector,  this  nozu  somewhat  celebrated  case  of 
Bingham  Harvard  is  going  to  be  the  indirect 
means  of  weeding  out  every  dishonest  official  from 
your  department.'' 

Harvard  ran  down  the  steps  and  went  swiftly 
away,  without  once  turning  his  head  to  look  back; 
and  the  inspector  sat  quite  still  where  he  was  for 
several  moments  before  he  went  into  the  house. 

Down  at  the  corner  a  black-bodied  taxicab 
awaited  the  coming  of  the  Night  Wind;  and  there 
was  a  black  chauffeur  seated  under  the  steering- 
wheel. 

Inside  of  the  taxi,  patiently  waiting,  was  Lady 
Kate. 


CHAPTER  VI 
"BREAKING"  A  COP 

Patrolman  Compton  chose  to  disobey  the  inspec- 
tor. 

He  believed  that  the  end  would  justify  the  means. 
He  figured  it  out  that  he  could  effect  the  capture 
of  the  Night  Wind,  and  that  by  doing  so  he  would 
not  only  win  the  forgiveness  of  the  chief  of  the 
detective  bureau,  but  that  he  would  achieve  promo- 
tion as  well.  He  took  a  "chance,"  and  he  lost. 

Compton  knew  that,  just  around  the  corner,  he 
was  due  to  meet  his  roundsman,  and  that  only  one 
block  away  there  would  be  a  third  man  on  "peg." 
Another  patrolman  was  about  due  at  the  opposite 
side  of  the  avenue  he  was  approaching,  and  that 
would  make  four  men  on  the  job — if  only  the 
Night  Wind  elected  to  come  that  way  when  he 
should  part  with  the  inspector.  It  all  depended 
upon  that  circumstance. 

He  noticed  a  black  taxi  standing  near  the  corner/ 
54 


"BREAKING"  A  COP  55 

as  he  passed  hurriedly  along,  but  he  gave  it  no 
attention.  He  was  too  intent  upon  the  working  of 
the  plan  he  had  formed. 

But  the  black  chauffeur  of  the  taxi  noticed  him, 
nevertheless — and  kept  a  wary  eye  on  him  without 
appearing  to  do  so. 

The  black  chauffeur  saw  him  meet  the  rounds- 
man just  around  the  corner;  saw  them  engage  in 
a  hurried  and  somewhat  excited  whispered  conver- 
sation; saw  them  both  start  rapidly  away  toward 
the  nearest  peg-post;  saw  the  three  return  together 
at  the  opposite  side  of  the  avenue  and  meet  still 
another  patrolman,  with  whom  there  was  another 
whispered  exchange  of  confidence. 

The  chauffeur  was  Lady  Kate's  loyal  servant, 
Black  Julius,  and  the  taxicab  was  not  a  taxicab  at 
all,  but  Lady  Kate's  own  powerful  car,  which  had 
been  long  ago  transformed  into  an  imitation  of  one. 

Julius  lost  no  time  in  reporting  to  his  mistress 
all  that  he  had  seen  and  noted. 

"We  will  wait  as  we  are,"  she  told  him.  "Those 
policemen  will  cross  over  to  this  side  when  they 
see  Mr.  Harvard  coming,  but  they  will  wait  just 
around  the  corner,  to  avoid  being  seen  by  him. 
Evidently  they  do  not  suspect  us." 

It  was  Lady  Kate's  perfect  knowledge  of  police 
methods  which  enabled  her  to  prophesy  so  correctly, 
and  she  figured  it  out  to  her  own  satisfaction  that 
Harvard  would  have  ample  time  to  leap  into  the 


56        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

car  before  any  of  the  policemen  could  get  nea? 
enough  to  lay  a  hand  upon  him. 

Once  he  was  inside  the  car  Julius  could  be  trusted 
to  do  the  rest.  There  might  be  a  bullet  or  two 
fired  at  them,  as  they  made  their  escape,  but  such 
bullets  usually  went  wild. 

She  held  the  door  slightly  ajar,  when  she  saw  her 
husband  approaching,  and  she  waited  until  he  was 
almost  at  the  corner  before  she  threw  it  wide  open 
and  called  to  him: 

"Quick,  Bingham!     On  guard!" 

The  policemen  who  waited  behind  the  corner 
heard  her,  and  started  forward. 

But  Harvard  had  also  heard  her,  and  understood 
exactly  what  was  meant. 

That  wonderful  swiftness  of  motion  of  which 
he  was  a  master  did  not  desert  him — nor  his  cus- 
tomary clear-headed  perception  of  things. 

The  men  were  a  trifle  closer  to  the  corner  than 
Katherine  had  anticipated,  and  they  moved  more 
quickly  than  she  had  believed  possible.  Compton 
was  in  the  lead,  with  his  weapon  drawn,  ready  for 
use. 

But  he  was  a  trifle  too  much  in  the  lead ;  and  the 
Night  Wind  had  moved  forward  more  quickly 
than  he  had  expected.  Then,  it  all  happened  in 
the  briefest  interval ;  and  it  was  over  and  the  Night 
Wind  had  gone  before  the  other  three  amazed  cops 
realized  what  had  happened. 


"BREAKING"  A  COP  57 

Harvard,  warned  by  Katharine's  call  to  him, 
knowing  from  his  knowledge  of  Compton  what  to 
expect,  met  that  officer  face  to  face  as  he  rounded 
the  corner,  seized  the  wrist  of  the  hand  that  held  the 
gun  that  was  already  pointed  at  him  and  tore  the 
weapon  from  Compton's  grasp  with  the  other  hand. 
Then  he  wheeled  Compton  sharply  around,  and  held 
him  hugged  tightly  against  his  own  body,  while  he 
backed  swiftly  toward  the  open  door  of  the  car, 
pointing  to  Compton's  own  weapon  over  Compton's 
shoulder  at  the  other  three  cops  as  he  did  so. 

And  they  stopped  in  their  tracks,  outgeneraled. 

They  could  not  shoot  at  the  Night  Wind  with- 
out hitting  their  comrade — and  they  knew  that  he 
would  not  shoot  at  them — unless,  perchance,  they 
should  force  him  to  do  so. 

So  Harvard  backed  in  at  the  open  doorway  of 
the  car,  pulling  Compton  in  after  him;  and  he 
laughed  aloud  as  he  tossed  Compton's  gun  to  the 
pavement  in  front  of  the  other  three  officers. 

Then  the  door  was  slammed  shut  and  the  car, 
driven  by  black  Julius,  shot  swiftly  away,  bearing 
the  now  utterly  discomfited  Compton  a  sorry  pris- 
oner inside  of  it. 

"For  the  love  of  Mike!"  the  roundsman  who 
had  been  left  at  the  corner  with  the  remaining  two 
policemen,  exclaimed.  "What  do  you  know  about 
that!  Say!  It's  him  all  right.  I'd  give  up  three 
months'  pay  rather  than  have  had  this  happen." 


Inside  the  imitation  taxicab,  Compton  found 
himself  to  be  extremely  uncomfortable. 

Harvard  forced  him  down  upon  the  small  front 
seat,  facing  himself  and  Katherine.  Then  delib- 
erately, he  removed  Compton's  belt  and  shield. 

"You  disobeyed  orders,  Compton,"  the  Night 
Wind  said  with  mock  gravity.  "I  heard  the  in- 
spector direct  you  to  forget  what  you  had  seen 
and  heard." 

"I  wish  to  the  Lord  I  had,"  Compton  replied 
dubiously.  "Say,  let  me  out  of  this,  won't  you? 
I'm  off  my  post." 

"Certainly;  and  you  are  going  to  remain  off  it 
for  quite  some  time.  I'm  done  with  breaking 
bones,  Compton;  henceforth  I  shall  give  my  at- 
tention to  'breaking'  cops,  when  they  interfere  with 
me  as  you  have  done.  We  will  take  you  for  a  lit- 
tle ride,  and  we  will  leave  you,  presently,  minus 
your  belt  and  shield,  to  make  your  way  back  as  best 
you  can,  to  report;"  and  Harvard  called  an  order 
to  Julius  through  the  open  window. 

"I'll  be  'broke'  for  this!"  Compton  muttered 
miserably. 

"Maybe  not — if  you  go  directly  to  the  inspector 
with  your  story.  I  shall  send  the  belt  and  shield  to 
him  in  the  morning.  I  rather  liked  you — until  this 
thing  happened  to-night,  Compton.  Do  you  re- 
member when  you  last  saw  me?" 

"Sure  I  do." 


"BREAKING"  A  COP  59 

"Well,  I  saw  you,  too;  and  officer  Casey  was 
with  you ;  and  two  plainclothes  men  from  headquar- 
ters. It  was  down  at  the  pier,  when  I  went  away, 
six  months  ago.  I  thought,  at  the  time,  that  you 
and  Casey  held  those  two  plainclothes  men  back 
when  they  would  have  attempted  to  stop  me.  Is 
that  right?" 

"Sure  it  is." 

"Well,  I  rather  liked  you  for  that.  It  is  too 
bad  that  you  disobeyed  the  inspector's  specific  or- 
ders to-night.  You  would  have  avoided  all  this." 

''Say,  Mr.  Harvard,  on  the  level,  won't  you  let 
me  out  of  this  and  give  me  back  my  belt  and  shield, 
and  let  me  go?  I'll  be— 

"No.  If  you  had  succeeded  in  capturing  me, 
would  you  have  let  me  go?  Swallow  a  little  of 
your  own  medicine,  Compton.  It  will  be  good  for 
you." 

Compton  became  sullen  after  that.  Half  an 
hour  later  they  dropped  him  at  an  isolated  point 
in  the  Bronx,  a  mile  or  more  from  the  nearest 
trolley  line;  and  still  later  when  Julius  had  driven 
them  back  into  the  city,  they  stopped  for  a  moment 
before  an  all-night  district  messenger  office  where 
Julius  left  a  neatly  wrapped  package  addressed  to 
the  inspector,  and  bearing  the  legend,  "to  be  de- 
livered immediately."  It  contained  Compton's  belt 
and  stick  and  shield. 

"What  about  the  inspector,  Bingham?"  Kather- 


60        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

ine  asked  her  husband  while  they  were  on  their 
way  back. 

"Oh,  it  turned  out  exactly  as  we  thought  it 
would,"  he  replied.  "Still,  I  am  not  sorry  that  I 
made  the  effort.  I  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  do- 
ing what  I  considered  to  be  my  duty.  I  have  given 
the  'system'  its  chance.  Now,  it  is  war." 

"Still,"  she  said  slowly,  "I  regret  just  a  little, 
that  you  would  not  consent  to  work  it  without  let- 
ting them  know  that  you  were  back." 

"I  don't,  Katherine.  I'd  much  rather  fight  it  in 
the  open — or  as  near  to  the  open  as  I  can  arrive, 
under  the  circumstances.  They  know  what  they 
are  up  against  now." 

"Tom  Clancy  thinks 

"Oh,  I  know  perfectly  well  that  Tom  thinks — 
God  bless  him!  He  is  what  you  might  call  single- 
thoughted,  if  I  may  coin  a  word.  There  are  two 
things  certain,  my  dear:  we  are  going  to  find  the 
man  who  stole  that  hundred  and  thirty-six  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  we  are  going  to  put  the  'system' 
that  tried  to  fasten  the  crime  on  me,  everlastingly 
on  the  blink.  But  that  is  not  what  concerns  me 
most  at  the  present  moment." 

"What  is,  then?" 

"Your  own  safety,  dear.  They  will  hound  the 
life  out  of  you  now,  if  you  give  them  half  a 
chance." 

"I'm  not  going  to  give  them  half  a  chance,  or  a 


"BREAKING"  A  COP 61 

tenth  part  of  one — if  you  will  adhere  to  your 
agreement  that  we  shall  see  each  other  only  rarely 
while  this  problem  is  being  worked  out." 

"I  will  stick  to  it,  Katherine,  if  only  for  your 
own  sake — although  it  will  be  hard;  but  it  won't 
be  long." 

"No,  dear,  it  won't  be  long;  and  I  have  selected 
my  own  method  and  plans  for  working.  You  and 
Tom  can  work  together  as  you  see  fit,  and  see  as 
much  of  each  other  as  you  both  deem  wise.  All 
that  I  ask  is  that  you  will  both  leave  me  entirely  to 
my  own  resources,  and  that  you  will  not  seek  to 
see  me,  unless  I  send  word  to  you.  I  must  work 
alone.  Only,  don't  forget  that  I  will  always  have 
Julius  near  me." 

Harvard  nodded  in  acquiescence,  and  was  silent. 
Presently  she  asked: 

"How  did  you  explain  your  presence  here  to 
the  inspector,  with  the  fact  that  the  Golgotha  will 
not  arrive  for  many  hours  yet?" 

"I  didn't  explain  it.  He  thinks  I  came  ashore  in 
a  flying  machine,  or  that  I  have  been  here  all  the 
time — or  that  I  came  on  the  same  steamer  with 
you.  It  doesn't  matter  what  he  thinks." 

"You  have  not  seen  Rushton  yet?" 

"No,  dear." 

"You  intend  to  see  him?" 

"Yes;  before  I  sleep  again,"  was  the  decided  re- 
ply. 


62        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"You — you  will  not  do  anything  to — to 

Harvard  smiled  reassuringly  into  her  eyes  while 
he  put  an  arm  around  her  and  drew  her  closer  to 
him. 

"No,  little  mascot,"  he  said.  "Rushton  is 
merely  the  personification  of  the  charge  against 
me;  nothing  more.  Once,  I  intended  to  kill  him, 
but  your  love  for  me  has  crowded  all  thoughts  of 
hatred  out  of  my  heart  and  soul.  Rushton  will 
work  out  his  own  condemnation";  and  the  Night 
Wind  bent  forward  and  called  to  Julius  to  stop. 

"I  will  get  down  here,"  he  told  his  wife.  "I  am 
going  to  see  Tom  Clancy.  He  is  expecting  me, 
and  I  have  the  key  to  his  house  that  you  gave  me. 
In  the  morning  the  actual  campaign  begins.  Re- 
member, sweetheart,  that  I  must  hear  from  you 
every  day,  through  Tom,  or  Julius,  or  by  letter, 
as  agreed.  In  a  fortnight,  more  or  less,  within  a 
month  at  most,  we  will  be  able  to  face  the  world 
together — for  I  have  a  plan  or  two,  also,  which  I 
have  not  disclosed." 

We  will  draw  the  curtain  over  their  parting, 
after  which  Julius  drove  the  car  away,  while  the 
Night  Wind  stood  quite  still  and  watched  it  go 
from  him,  bearing  the  woman  he  loved  with  all  his 
heart  and  soul — and  who  loved  him. 

Then  he  hurried  away  to  seek  his  friend  Tom 
Clancy. 


CHAPTER   VII 

A    MIDNIGHT    CALL 

Clancy  had  given  Katherine  a  key  to  his  home, 
to  be  delivered  to  Harvard  at  the  first  opportunity, 
and  the  message  that  went  with  the  key  was : 

Tell  Bing  to  come  to  me  the  moment  he  has  that 
key  in  his  possession,  no  matter  what  hour  of  the 
day  or  night  it  may  happen  to  be.  If  it  is  daylight, 
he  can  go  to  the  house  and  wait  there  till  I  get 
home;  if  it  is  night — well,  he  knows  the  location 
of  my  room. 

Thus  Thomas  Clancy  was  awakened  during  the 
small  hours  of  the  morning  to  discover  that  his 
room  was  brilliantly  alight,  and  that  a  man  was 
seated  on  the  bed  beside  him. 

"You  sleep  like  a  dead  man,  Tom,"  was  Har- 
vard's greeting.  "I  could  have  taken  the  furni- 
ture out  of  the  room  without  rousing  you." 

"Hello,  Bing!  Gee,  but  it's  good  to  see  you 
63 


64        RETURN. OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

again";  and  the  two  friends  grasped  hands  in  the 
manner  that  only  real  friendship  knows  and  feels. 
Then  Tom  tumbled  out  of  bed  and  began  to  clothe 
himself.  "I  can't  think  properly  unless  I've  got  a 
bale  or  two  of  dry  goods  wrapped  around  me, 
Bing!"  he  explained  cheerily.  "Habit,  I  suppose; 
and  habit  is  the  greatest  slave-driver  in  the  world. 
Where  have  you  been  ?  What  have  you  been  doing 
all  this  time?  And — say!"  He  paused  with  one 
shoe  suspended  in  the  air  preparatory  to  pulling 
it  on  his  foot.  "How  the  devil  did  you  get  here, 
anyhow?  Did  I  get  a  false  report?  Did  the  Gol- 
gotha come  up  the  bay  last  night,  after  all  ?" 

"No,  Tom.  I  believe  that  she  is  somewhere  out- 
side of  Sandy  Hook,  right  now." 

"H-m!  Well,  I  don't  care,  so  long  as  you  are 
here.  There!  Now  I  am  human  again;  and  be- 
ing clothed,  I'm  also  in  my  right  mind.  Have  you 
seen  Ka —  Of  course  you  have — otherwise  you 
would  not  have  had  the  key." 

"Oh,  I  have  had  a  comfortably  busy  night, 
Tom,"  Harvard  replied,  laughing  lightly.  His 
heart  felt  very  light  just  then,  for  it  seemed  as  if 
there  was  at  last  a  rift  in  the  clouds  that  had  en- 
veloped him  so  long. 

Clancy  bent  forward  in  his  chair. 

"I  want  to  tell  you  one  thing,  Bingham  Har- 
vard," he  remarked  solemnly.  "You  are  the  lucki- 
est felon  that  ever  fell;  you're  the  guy  that  put 


A  MIDNIGHT  CALL  65 

the  hap  in  happiness.  Why,  say,  I  would  be  willing 
to  have  a  murder  charge  framed  up  against  me  if 
I  was  dead  certain  that  it  would  bring  me  a  wife 
like  yours.  It's  lucky  for  you  that  I'm  your  'buz- 
zim'  friend,  so  to  speak — I'll  tell  you  that.  Talk 
about  women!  Why,  Bing,  Katherine  is  just  the 
apex  of  the  most  splendid  womanhood  that  has 
been  created." 

Harvard  laughed  softly  and  happily. 

"I  don't  suppose  you  have  seen  Rushton  yet,  have 
you?"  Clancy  asked. 

"No ;  but  I  have  seen  and  talked  with  the  inspec- 
tor and  with  an  officer  named  Compton.  I  waited 
for  the  inspector  at  his  own  door,"  Harvard  re- 
plied; and  then,  rapidly,  he  related  the  incidents  of 
the  night  as  we  already  know  them ;  and  the  room 
rang  with  Tom  Clancy's  laughter  while  the  story 
was  being  told. 

"They  won't  call  you  the  bone-breaker  any  more, 
after  this  incident!"  he  exclaimed,  when  Harvard 
had  finished.  "They  will  call  you  the  heart- 
breaker,  for  if  you  didn't  break  that  cop's  heart — 
and  the  inspector's,  too,  for  that  matter — I'm  a 
Dutchman.  Now,  it  is  time  to  get  down  to  busi- 
ness. Have  you  got  any  plans?" 

"I  have  got  one  general  one  upon  which  all  the 
lesser  ones  depend,  of  course,"  Harvard  replied; 
"to  find  the  thief  who  stole  that  money.  But  the 
great  difficulty  is "  He  paused. 


66        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Is  what,  Bing?" 

"Well,  it  is  the  same  as  if  you  hid  something  in 
that  other  room  and  then  came  outside  of  it  and 
locked  the  door  so  that  I  couldn't  get  in,  and  told 
me  to  find  it.  The  thief  is  inside  of  that  bank, 
Tom.  If  I  could  get  into  it  again  and  stay  in  it 
for  a  week  or  so " 

"Go  on.    You  haven't  finished." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  have,  for,  of  course,  it  is  utterly  im- 
possible for  me  to  do  that.  Say,  Tom,  I  wonder  if 
it  is  true  that  some  of  those  theatrical  guys  can 
disguise  a  fellow  so  that  his  best  friends  won't 
recognize  him.  Is  it?" 

"Hardly.  Anyhow,  you  couldn't  disguise  your- 
self so  that  a  blind  man  wouldn't  know  you. 
You've  got  too  much  'presence'  about  you — too 
much  Bing  Harvard.  But  you  needn't  worry  about 
that.  I  have  had  a  man  working  inside  of  Ches- 
ter's bank  for  the  last  three  months,"  Clancy 
concluded  coolly. 

"You  have?.    You  have  done  that?" 

"Surest  thing  you  know,  Bing." 

"And  for  the  last  three  months!  Then  nothing 
has  turned  up  as  yet,  or  you  would  have  told  me 
of  it  the  first  shot  out  of  the  box." 

"Nope.  Nothing  has  materialized,  so  far.  You 
see,  we  needed  you  here,  to  tell  us  what  to  do,  and 
where  to  look,  and  all  that.  We  can  accomplish 
more  in  three  weeks,  with  you  close  at  hand  to 


A  MIDNIGHT  CALL 67 

make  suggestions,  than  in  three  years  without  you. 
That's  what!" 

"Who  else  do  you  mean  by  that  word  'we/ 
Tom?" 

"My  friend  whom  I  call  Mr.  Redhead,  because 
that  isn't  his  name ;  the  main  guy  of  the  only  bunch 
of  real  detectives  in  this  glorious  country ;  the  head 
and  front  of  the  one  great  detective  agency  that 
does  things.  He  is  just  itching  to  see  you,  too." 

"Do  you  mean  Bu " 

"I  mean  Mr.  Redhead.     I  told  you  that." 

"Is  it  one  of  his  men  that  is  at  the  bank  ?" 

"You  betcher  life  it  is." 

"What  is  he  doing  there?  What  is  his  posi- 
tion?" 

"Oh,  he  is  one  of  the  bookkeepers." 

"I  should  like  to  have  a  talk  with  that  man." 

"You  will  have  the  opportunity  before  you  are 
twenty-four  hours  older,  Bing.  And  now  I  want 
to  drop  that  part  of  the  subject  for  a  few  minutes. 
What  are  you  going  to  do  about  Rushton?" 

"Put  that  question  a  little  plainer,  Tom." 

"Have  you  still  got  a  bug  that  you  want  to  get 
his  gore — or  anything  like  that?" 

"No,  Tom.  There  is  no  room  for  hate  of  any 
sort  where  love  like  mine  abounds.  My  attitude 
toward  Rushton  now  is  one  of  sorrow — mingled, 
perhaps,  with  a  grain  of  contempt." 

"Well,  maybe  that  is  all  right.     I  cannot  deny, 


68        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

though,  that  I'd  rather  like  to  see  you  break  him  in 
two  and  throw  the  pieces  away.  However,  you're 
not  going  to  let  up  on  him,  are  you,  when  the  time 
comes  to  give  him  what's  coming  to  him?" 

"I  think  he  will  get  it  without  its  being  given 
to  him.  But — I  am  going  to  see  him,  Tom,  and 
give  him  his  chance,  just  the  same  as  I  saw  and 
gave  it  to  the  inspector.  I  have  promised  myself 
that  much." 

"Good!  When  are  you  going  to  see  him,  and 
how  are  you  going  to  see  him?" 

Harvard  looked  at  his  watch. 

"It  is  just  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,"  he  said. 
"I  want  to  be  ready  for  work  to-morrow.  I  shall 
go  to  see  him  now — at  his  own  home.  I'll  give 
him  his  chance." 

"Well— I'll— be Say!  You  will  kill  him, 

Bing.  You  will  scare  him  to  death.  You  don't 
really  mean  it,  do  you?" 

"Of  course  I  mean  it." 

"Then  I'm  going  with  you." 

"Oh,  no,  you're  not.  I  am  not  going  to'  permit 
you  to  destroy  your  usefulness  to  me  by  any  such 
foolishness.  I  know  the  way  to  his  house.  It 
won't  be  the  first  time  I  have  seen  the  inside  of  it, 
for  I  did  go  there  to  kill  him  once.  I  promised 
myself  that  I  would  give  him  his  chance,  Tom.  It 
won't  do  any  good,  of  course,  but  it  will  satisfy 
my  own  ideas  of  what  is  right." 


A  MIDNIGHT  CALL 


"Won't  you  let  me  go  as  far  as  the  door  with 
you  and  wait  there  till  you  come  out  ?"  Tom  Clancy 
pleaded;  but  Harvard  shook  his  head  emphatically 
while  he  got  out  of  his  chair  and  reached  for  his 
hat. 

"I'll  meet  you  anywhere  you  say,  at  any  time 
you  choose,  to-morrow  night,  Tom,"  he  said;  "and 
I  would  like  to  see  your  friend  Redhead,  too. 
During  the  day  I  will  have  certain  small  things  to 
attend  to " 

"And  one  very  big  thing,  Bing;  which  is,  to 
keep  yourself  out  of  sight.  Don't  forget  who  you 
are,  and  that  you  have  already  pretty  well  adver- 
tised the  fact  that  you  have  returned.  Every  cop 
in  New  York  will  be  on  the  lookout  for  you  in  the 
morning." 

"I  know.     I  am  prepared  for  that,  too." 

Clancy  crossed  the  room  toward  his  desk.  He 
returned  in  a  moment  with  an  envelope  in  his  hand, 
which  he  gave  to  Harvard. 

"You  will  find  in  this  full  written  directions 
concerning  where  you  are  to  go  and  what  you  are 
to  do  to-morrow  night,  in  order  to  meet  me — and 
Redhead.  But  say,  I  wish  you  would  pass  up  this 
Rushton  call;  anyhow,  for  to-night." 

"It  can't  be  done,  Tom,"  Harvard  replied,  smil- 
ing. "I  am  going  there — now." 


CHAPTER   VIII 
RODNEY  RUSHTON'S  ORDEAL 

The  Night  Wind  paused  for  a  moment  at  the 
bottom  of  the  steps  that  led  to  the  door  of  the 
house  where  Lieutenant  Rodney  Rushton  lived. 
He  looked  at  his  watch  and  saw  that  the  hour  was 
half  past  two. 

Lights  gleamed  from  the  windows  of  the  top 
floor — it  was  a  three-story  house — and  announced 
that  the  headquarters  man  was  still  awake.  They 
suggested  also  that  he  might  not  be  alone. 

Harvard  thought  over  that  possibility  for  a  mo- 
ment, then  shrugged  his  shoulders  indifferently, 
mounted  the  steps,  selected  the  electric  button 
which  would  ring  the  bell  in  Rushton's  quarters, 
and  pressed  upon  it.  Then  he  stood  quite  close 
to  the  inner  door  and  waited.  The  house  was 
Rushton's  own  property,  and  he  reserved  the  top 
floor  of  it  for  his  own  uses,  letting  out  the  others. 

Harvard  could  hear  heavy  footsteps  descending 
the  stairs  inside.  Then  the  door  was  jerked  open, 

70 


RODNEY  RUSHTON'S  ORDEAL         71 

and  Rushton,  with  an  angry  scowl  upon  his  fore- 
head, stood  just  beyond  it. 

He  could  not  see  Harvard's  face  distinctly  in  the 
half  light,  and  certainly  Bingham  Harvard  was 
the  last  man  on  earth  that  he  might  have  expected 
to  find  there,  so  there  was  no  instant  recognition 
on  his  part. 

The  Night  Wind,  being  prepared,  stepped  inside 
the  doorway  the  instant  it  was  opened. 

Every  muscle,  every  sinew  and  nerve,  every  en- 
ergy he  possessed,  was  tense,  and  ready  for  action 
if  he  should  be  called  upon  to  make  use  of  any  of 
them. 

He  stepped  inside  the  hallway  so  quickly,  with 
that  unaccountable  swiftness  of  action  that  was  his 
characteristic,  that  he  had  passed  the  threshold 
and  had  closed  the  door  behind  him  before  Rush- 
ton  could  blurt  out  the  profane  question  that  he 
had  determined  to  put  to  the  person  who  had  dared 
to  disturb  him  at  that  hour,  after  he  had  been  on 
duty  all  the  day  and  part  of  the  night. 

"The  Night  Wind  has  returned,  Rushton,"  was 
Harvard's  greeting;  "and  I  did  not  come  here  to 
hurt  you  unless  you  attempt  to  hurt  me." 

It  was  said  coolly  enough,  but  with  unmistakable 
emphasis,  nevertheless.  Rushton  started  backward, 
almost  staggering,  and  caught  at  the  post  of  the 
balustrade  for  support.  His  face  went  gray,  his 
eyes  widened,  and  the  pupils  dilated.  Although  he 


72        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

was  called  a  man  who  was  unafraid,  he  was  fright- 
ened then  for  an  instant. 

"You!"  he  managed  to  say  in  a  hoarse  whisper. 
"They  said — they  said  that  you  were  on  the  Gol- 
gotha. She  hasn't  docked  yet.  I  telephoned  the 

very  last  thing  before Say!  You've  got  a  gall, 

comin'  here,  you  have!"  He  sought  to  gain  a  lit- 
tle courage  by  bluster. 

"Softly,  Rushton,  softly.  Lead  the  way  up- 
stairs. I  want  to  talk  to  you." 

"I  won't.     You  beat  it  out  a  here." 

The  Night  Wind  bent  forward  nearer  to  the 
frightened  man,  boring  him  with  his  eyes. 

"Lead  the  way  to  your  rooms,  Rushton,"  he  said 
quietly.  "I'm  not  going  to  hurt  you,  unless  you 
force  me  to  it.  When  I  have  had  my  say  I  will  go 
away  as  I  came,  quietly,  and  you  will  be  none  the 
worse  for  my  call  upon  you.  You  may  be  some 
better.  That  is  up  to  you.  You  are  not  hanker- 
ing after  any  more  broken  bones,  are  you?" 

Rushton  still  hesitated,  glaring  into  the  eyes  of 
the  man  he  so  hated  and  feared. 

"You  are  unarmed  just  now,  Rushton,"  the 
Night  Wind  said,  with  a  half  smile.  "I  am  always 
armed — with  these."  And  he  stretched  out  his 
arms  toward  the  man  from  headquarters  until  his 
fingers  were  so  close  to  Rushton's  throat  that  the 
man  shrank  away  from  them  in  terror. 

Then,  without  further  objection  or  hesitation,  he 


RODNEY  RUSHTON'S  ORDEAL          73 

began  slowly  to  mount  the  stairs;  and  Harvard 
followed  after  him. 

So  they  entered  the  front  room  of  the  top  floor, 
where  two  lights  were  burning  brightly. 

Upon  a  couch  at  one  side  were  Rushton's  wea- 
pons— a  police  revolver,  a  Colt  automatic,  and  a 
loaded  "billy."  Rushton  would  have  made  a  leap 
toward  them  had  not  the  Night  Wind's  hand  fallen 
heavily  upon  his  shoulder  just  as  he  was  about  to 
do  so.  The  man  knew  himself  to  be  helpless  then. 

Harvard  stepped  past  him,  appropriated  the  wea- 
pons, and  dropped  them  inside  the  table  drawer, 
which  he  pulled  open.  There  was  a  key  in  the  lock 
of  the  drawer,  and  he  turned  it,  after  which  he 
threw  it  behind  the  couch. 

"Now,  Rushton,"  he  said  coldly,  "I  don't  think 
you  will  try  to  get  gay  with  me.  I  am  not  in  the 
mood  to  be  gay  just  now.  Sit  down — over  there — 
in  that  chair.  You  will  be  away  from  the  tempta- 
tions of  guns  and  telephones  and  such  things  over 
there." 

"Say,  Harvard,  what  do  you  mean  by  this  high- 
handed business,  anyhow?"  Rushton  had  found 
his  voice  at  last.  He  had  assured  himself  that  the 
Night  Wind  had  not  come  there  to  kill  him,  as  he 
had  at  first  surmised — for  he  remembered  how 
near  to  death  he  had  been  on  one  occasion  at  this 
man's  hands. 


74        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"I  am  here  to  fulfil  a  promise  that  I  made  to 
myself  some  time  ago,  lieutenant,"  Harvard  replied. 

"Oh,  you  are,  are  you?  It's  a  good  thing  to 
keep  your  word  with  somebody,  I  suppose." 

"I  promised  myself  that  I  would  give  you  a 
chance — an  opportunity  to  redeem  yourself — and 
the  last  one,  Rush  ton." 

Rushton  sneered  openly.  "I  ain't  in  the  re- 
deemin'  business,  Mister  Harvard,"  he  said. 

Harvard  bent  forward,  studying  the  man  before 
him  much  as  he  might  have  given  curious  attention 
to  a  gila  monster  or  to  any  poisonous  reptile.  Then 
he  shook  his  head  and  murmured,  more  to  himself 
than  to  the  officer : 

"You  are  not  even  human.  Something — I  won- 
der what  it  was — was  left  out  of  you  when  you 
were  made.  Rushton,  don't  you  know  what  a  sim- 
ple fool  you  are?  Haven't  you  any  idea  of  it? 
Is  your  crooked  conceit  so  great  that  you  cannot  see 
your  own  reflection?" 

"I  think  I'll  smoke,  if  you  don't  mind,"  Rushton 
said,  half  rising  from  his  chair;  but  Harvard  in- 
terrupted him  sharply,  and  he  dropped  back  upon 
it  again. 

"You  will  sit  where  you  are.  You  can  do  your 
smoking  after  I  have  gone  away,"  Harvard  an- 
nounced coldly. 

"Well,  you  can't  go  any  too  soon  to  suit  me, 
mister.  You  know  the  way  out,"  was  the  sneering 


RODNEY  RUSHTON'S  ORDEAL         75 

reply.  "Say,  what  did  you  come  here  for,  any- 
how?" 

"Pay  close  attention  for  a  moment  and  I  will 
tell  you.  I  told  you  a  moment  ago  that  I  came  here 
to  give  you  a  chance.  I  meant  that.  The  chance 
is  this:  If  you  will  admit,  in  the  presence  of  the  in- 
spector in  charge  of  the  detective  bureau,  of  Mr. 
Chester,  Mr.  Clancy,  and  myself,  that  I  am  inno- 
cent of  that  theft  at  the  bank,  and  that  the  evi- 
dence which  you  produced  against  me  was  a  frame- 
up,  you  will  probably  be  given  an  opportunity  to 
redeem  yourself  at  headquarters,  and  you  will  have 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  you  have  per- 
formed at  least  one  good  deed — of  knowing  that 
for  once  you  have  done  what  is  right."  Harvard 
chose  his  words  carefully  and  slowly.  He  said 
them  earnestly.  Rushton  laughed  outright  and 
brutally. 

"Now  whadda  you  know  about  that!"  he  ejacu- 
lated derisively.  "Little  Bingie  Harvard,  who 
never  had  no  father  nor  mother " 

Rushton  got  thus  far  and  stopped.  His  jaw  fell 
open.  His  eyes  started  and  stared.  He  trembled 
with  sudden  cold.  He  huddled  down  into  the 
depths  of  the  chair,  more  frightened  than  he  had 
ever  been  in  all  his  crooked  life  before. 

The  Night  Wind  had  leaped  to  his  feet  and  was 
standing  over  the  man  who  had  taunted  him  with 
his  unknown  birth.  His  eyes  were  blazing.  His 


76        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

face  had  gone  white  with  rage.  His  furious  tem- 
per, ungovernable  when  roused,  was  nearly  loosed. 

But  he  controlled  himself,  and  after  a  moment 
returned  to  his  chair;  and  for  several  moments 
after  that  there  was  utter  silence  between  the  two 
men.  There  would  be  no  danger  that  Rushton 
would  again  transgress  in  the  manner  he  had  done. 

"I  did  not  expect  that  you  would  consider  what 
I  had  to  offer,"  the  Night  Wind  said  colorlessly 
after  a  time.  "It  takes  a  big  man  to  admit  that  he 
has  done  wrong,  and  you  are  the  littlest  man  that 
ever  lived.  Well,  so  be  it.  I  have  done  my  part, 
and  you  will  have  to  take  the  consequences,  Rush- 
ton." 

"Huh!      Consequences!     What   consequences?" 

"Dismissal  from  the  force,  for  one  thing. 
Prison,  for  another.  Utter  and  entire  ostracism 
at  the  hands  of  all  decent  men,  for  still  another. 
Restitution,  reprisal,  ignominy,  self-scorn,  the  con- 
tempt of  others  will  go  to  make  up  the  sum  total." 

"You  make  me  tired,  Harvard.  What  do  you 
think  I  am,  anyhow?  A  boob?  Even  if  all  that 
you  say  was  so,  do  you  think  I  would  be  fool 
enough  to  admit  it?" 

"It  is  so,  and  you  are  fool  enough  not  to  ad- 
mit it." 

"Well,  if  that  is  all  that  you  came  here  to  say 
to  me,  you'd  better  chase  yourself." 

"Rushton" — Harvard  bent  forward  again,  with 


RODNEY  RUSHTON'S  ORDEAL         77 

a  sudden  thought  that  came  into  his  understanding 
like  a  flash  of  light — "I  believe  that  you  know — 
have  known  all  the  time — who  did  take  that 
money/' 

"Of  course  I  know.  Of  course  I  have  known  all 
the  time.  You  took  it." 

"You  know  that  that  is  not  what  I  mean." 

"I  ain't  no  mind-reader,  Harvard.  If  you  have 
come  back  to  this  burg  with  any  idea  that  you're 
going  to  throw  it  into  me,  you've  got  another  guess 
comin',  that's  all.  I  suppose  you  think  you're 
smart,  comin'  here  to  my  house  in  the  dead  of  night 
an'  givin'  me  all  this  hot  air.  I  s'pose  you  think 
that  you  can  go  around  this  old  town  the  same  way 
you  done  the  act  once  before,  breakin'  bones  an' 
raisin'  hell  generally;  but  you  can't.  The  net'll  be 
out  for  you  in  the  morning,  and  it  will  be  put  out 
in  such  a  way  that  you  will  wish  before  you're 
twenty- four  hours  older  that  you'd  stayed  where 
you  was. 

"And  there's  another  thing,  too,  that  you  can  put 
into  your  pipe  and  smoke.  We  ain't  goin'  to  take 
no '  foolishness  from  Lady  Kate.  They  tell  me 
downtown  that  she  has  married  you.  Well,  that 
fact  ain't  goin'  to  protect  her  none;  it's  goin'  to 
do  her  a  lot  of  harm,  if  anybody  should  ask  you. 

"There's  more'n  one  way  to  kill  a  cat,  Mr.  Bing- 
ham  Harvard,  as  you'll  find  out,  and  I'll  tell  you 
right  now  (and  I  ain't  say  in'  it  for  myself  alone; 


78        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

I'm  sayin'  it  for  the  whole  bunch  down  at  head- 
quarters), if  that  wife  of  yours  don't  walk  in  a 
mighty  straight  and  narrow  path  she'll  find  herself 
up  against  it  so  hard  that  she  won't  know  what 
has  happened  to  her  when  it  does  happen. 

"You  talk  about  frame-ups.  Say!  you  ain't  the 
only  guy  that  has  made  that  yell,  and  you  ain't 
likely  to  be,  either.  You  take  it  from  me,  you'd 
better  send  her  back  to  where  you've  been  stayin', 
unless  you  want  to  see  her  takin'  a  trip  up  the 
river  for  an  extended  stay.  And  that  warnin'  ain't 
no  idle  dream,  either." 

"Rushton,  are  you  threatening  to  'frame'  some- 
thing on  my  wife?"  There  was  deadly  menace  in 
the  tone  in  which  that  question  was  asked. 

"No,  I  ain't.  I  ain't  threatenin'  nothin'.  I'm 
givin'  you  warning." 

Harvard  was  silent  for  a  moment  after  that, 
thinking. 

That  flash  of  light  that  had  fallen  upon  him  a 
moment  ago  when  he  charged  Rushton  with  hav- 
ing known  from  the  beginning  who  was  the  real 
thief  called  up  other  flashes  by  sequences. 

A  new  idea  possessed  him  now.  One  that  had 
never  even  remotely  occurred  to  him  before  that 
night.  But  it  was  a  promising  one;  and,  if  there 
were  promise  in  it,  the  search  for  substantiation 
must  be  begun  in  that  very  room.  He  knew  that. 


RODNEY  RUSHTON'S  ORDEAL          79 

Harvard  produced  a  pair  of  handcuffs.  Then 
he  crossed  again  to  Rushton. 

"Lean  forward,"  he  ordered,  "and  put  your 
hands  together,  behind  you." 

"Say,  what  are  you  up  to,  anyhow  ?    I  ain't " 

"You  had  better  do  as  I  tell  you,  Rushton,"  was 
the  quiet  interruption;  and  Rushton  did.  Then  he 
leaned  backward  again  with  his  wrists  locked 
tightly  together  behind  his  back,  and  with  an  ugly 
scowl  on  his  face  and  a  furious  gleaming  in  his 
eyes. 

Next,  Harvard  jerked  a  rope  from  the  curtains 
at  one  end  of  the  room  and  tied  Rushton  securely 
to  the  chair. 

"That  won't  render  you  uncomfortable,  Rush- 
ton,  unless  you  attempt  to  get  up — in  which  case 
you  will  find  that  it  will  choke  you  a  little,"  he 
said.  "The  notion  has  seized  me  to  go  through  your 
desk  and  the  papers  it  contains,  and  I  want  you  to 
be  quiet  while  I  do  so." 

Rushton's  face  turned  livid.  Then  the  blood 
rushed  into  it  again,  until  it  was  nearly  purple  in 
hue.  He  ground  his  teeth  together,  and  he  swore 
frightfully;  and  to  not  one  of  the  things  he  said 
did  Harvard  pay  the  slightest  attention — until  the 
language  became  utterly  intolerable.  Then  he 
turned  from  his  occupation  at  the  desk  long  enough 
to  say,  with  calm  decision : 


80       RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"If  I  hear  you  utter  one  more  word,  Rushton, 
I  will  put  a  gag  between  your  jaws." 

There  was  silence  after  that,  save  for  the  flut- 
ter and  rattle  of  paper  as  Harvard  searched  the 
desk. 

From  time  to  time  he  glanced  at  his  watch,  and 
then  each  time  the  search  went  forward  again,  for 
he  had  already  discovered  enough  to  establish  the 
importance  of  making  it  a  thorough  one ;  and  Har- 
vard had  no  doubt  that  there  were  other  places 
than  the  desk  to  be  examined  also  before  he  com- 
pleted the  task  he  had  set  himself. 

Then  a  startling  thing  happened.  The  telephone 
bell  rang  out  sharply. 

For  a  moment  the  Night  Wind  hesitated,  glanc- 
ing at  Rushton  while  he  did  so.  And  then,  with 
sudden  decision,  he  went  to  the  telephone  and  lifted 
the  receiver  from  the  hook. 


CHAPTER    IX 

PLAYING   THE   GAME 

Rushton  gave  an  eager  start  when  the  telephone 
call  rang  out.  Then,  as  the  Night  Wind  lifted  the 
receiver  from  the  hook  and  put  it  against  his  ear, 
the  lieutenant,  with  an  assumption  of  carelessness 
that  was  plainly  evident,  remarked : 

"I  guess  maybe  you'd  better  let  me  answer  that 
call,  if  you'll  bring  the  phone  over  here.  More'n 
likely  they'll  recognize  your  voice,  Harvard." 

But  Harvard  paid  no  attention  to  the  sugges- 
tion. 

And  then  Bingham  Harvard  smiled  broadly,  for 
he  recognized  the  voice  at  the  other  end  of  the 
wire;  and  he  was  mentally  glad  that  he  had  been 
sufficiently  thoughtful  in  the  "Hello"  he  had  given 
to  render  his  own  voice  as  low  and  guttural  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  following  conversation  followed,  it  being 
remembered  that  Rodney  Rushton  could  hear  only 
that  part  of  it  uttered  by  Harvard. 

81 


82        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

The  voice  at  the  other  telephone  was  unmistak- 
ably the  voice  of  the  inspector. 

"That  you,  Rushton?"  he  inquired;  and  with- 
out waiting  for  a  reply  to  the  question,  continued : 
"I  called  you  up  to  tell  you  that  the  Night  Wind 
is  back.  He's  in  town  now.  As  likely  as  not  he's 
been  here  some  time.  That  was  all  rot  about  his 
corning  on  the  Golgotha,  because  she  is  outside  of 
Sandy  Hook  yet.  Do  you  get  me?" 

"Sure,"  said  Harvard. 

"What's  the  matter?     Got  a  cold?" 

"A  little" ;  and  Harvard  coughed.  The  inspector 
continued : 

"I  know  he  is  here,  because  I  saw  him  and  spoke 
to  him.  He's  looking  for  blood,  too,  so  you  had 
best  keep  an  eye  out.  I  wasn't  going  to  say  any- 
thing about  it  until  morning,  but  about  half  an  hour 
ago  a  messenger  came  to  my  house  bringing  a  belt 
and  stick  and  shield  that  belong  to  Compton ;  and  a 
few  minutes  later  Compton  telephoned  to  me  from 
somewhere  out  in  the  Bronx  to  say  that  the  Night 
Wind  took  them  away  from  him  and  then  dropped 
him  out  there  among  the  goats." 

"Uh-huh,"  said  Harvard,  noncommittally. 

"It  doesn't  seem  to  interest  you  very  much,  Rush- 
ton.  Or,  are  you  scared  stiff?" 

"Both,"  Harvard  replied.  And  he  coughed  again 
badly. 

"You  have  got  a  cold,   haven't   you?"   the   in- 


PLAYING  THE  GAME  83 

spector  said  sympathetically.  "Well,  forget  it. 
You  won't  have  any  time  to  nurse  colds  now.  You 
slip  on  your  clothes  and  beat  it  up  here  to  my  house 
as  soon  as  you  can  make  it.  I  want  to  see  you 
now." 

"What   for?"   Harvard  trusted  himself  to  say. 

There  was  a  moment  of  hesitation  at  the  other 
end  of  the  wire.  Then : 

"I  can't  talk  it  over  the  wire — that  is  why  I  want 
you  to  come  here  to  see  me  before  we  meet  down 
at  the  office.  But  I'll  say  this  much — we've  got  to 
separate  that  bunch  of  busybodies — Clancy,  Lady 
Kate,  and  the  Night  Wind.  We've  got  to  get  her, 
anyhow,  and  'send  her  away — and  Clancy,  too,  if 
possible." 

"Frame  something?"  Harvard  asked  suggest- 
ively. 

"We've  got  to  get  rid  of  them  somehow." 
Just  then  Rushton  took  a  large  chance.     Driven 
to  desperation  by  hearing  only  one  end  of  a  con- 
versation that  he  knew  was  intended  for  himself, 
he  yelled  at  the  top  of  his  voice : 

"That  ain't  me  talkin'— it's  the  Night  Wind !" 
Harvard  knew  that  the  inspector  must  have  heard 
that  shout  and  the  words  that  were  uttered ;  and  he 
smiled  broadly  when  he  heard  the  inspector  swear; 
then,  before  the  choice  selection  of  words  was  quite 
finished,  he  said  in  his  natural  tones : 


84        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Hello,  inspector — how  are  you  feeling  about 
now?" 

"Curse  you,  Harvard — I  wish  I  could  get  at  you," 
came  the  reply. 

"Oh,  I  shall  be  gone  from  here  long  before  you 
could  get  here  or  send  others,  inspector.  I  am  nearly 
through  for  the  night.  That  was  very  kind  of  you 
to  give  me  that  bit  of  information  in  regard  to 
Mrs.  Harvard  and  my  friend  Clancy." 

"Say,  what  are  you  doing  in  Rushton's  rooms?" 

"Searching  his  papers  and  so  forth." 

"Where's  Rushton?" 

"He  is  here,  sitting  with  his  hands  behind  his 
back  like  a  good  little  boy  that  has  been  naughty. 
He  is  harmless.  Would  you  like  to  have  me  deliver 
that  message  of  yours  to  him?" 

"I  would  like  to  speak  to  him  if  you  will  let  me 
do  it." 

"Certainly — on  the  condition  that  you  will  speak 
loud  enough  for  both  of  us  to  hear  what  you  say. 
If  you  do  not,  I  shall  hold  the  receiver  so  that  he 
can't  hear." 

"All  right,"  came  the  reply ;  and  Harvard  stepped 
across  to  the  chair  where  Rushton  was  seated, 
stretching  the  telephone  cord  to  its  full  length  in 
doing  so.  Then  he  held  the  receiver  down  so  that 
both  of  them  could  hear  what  might  be  said  through 
it. 


PLAYING  THE  GAME 85 

"Hello,  inspector,"  Rushton  called  hoarsely. 
"This " 

Harvard  lifted  the  transmitter  and  receiver  out 
of  his  reach.  "None  of  that,  Rushton,"  he  said. 
Then  he  put  them  down  again  for  Rushton  to  talk. 

"Tell  me  what  has  happened,  Rushton,"  the  in- 
spector said.  "He  will  let  you  do  that." 

"Aw,  he  rung  my  bell  an'  I  went  down  like  a 
jackass,  with  nothin'  on  me — that  is,  no  gun  'r 
nothin' ;  an'  he  got  me  dead  to  rights  down  in  the 
lower  hall.  And  now  he's  got  my  own  irons  onto 
me,  and  he's  goin'  through  my  papers.  It  ain't 
nice  to  tell,  but  it's  so." 

"Tell  Rushton  about  that  idea  of  yours  for  a 
new  frame-up,  inspector,"  Harvard  interposed;  and 
the  inspector  replied : 

"I'll  tell  him  all  right,  Harvard,  only  I  will  go 
down  there  to  do  it.  Just  now  I  prefer  to  talk  with 
you  a  little  more.  You  see " 

That  was  all  that  Harvard  heard,  for  he  hung 
the  receiver  upon  the  hook  instantly.  The  thought 
struck  him  suddenly  that  the  inspector  was  talk- 
ing to  kill  time,  and  that  if  he  did  that  it  was  not 
without  a  purpose. 

It  was  not  unlikely  that  another  person  was  in 
the  room  with  the  inspector  when  he  called  Rush- 
ton's  number,  and  if  that  happened  to  be  true,  signs 
and  signals  would  have  sufficed  to  send  that  second 
person  into  the  street  to  find  another  telephone.  If 


86        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

that  were  the  case,  headquarters  and  then  the  near- 
est station  house  would  be  speedily  notified. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  was  even  more  ominous, 
if  Harvard  had  but  known  it;  for,  in  addition  to 
the  regular  telephone  service,  the  inspector  had  a 
private,  /direct  wire  between  his  house  and  his  own 
office  at  headquarters,  and  that  private  wire  was 
working  even  while  the  inspector  was  talking  with 
Harvard. 

For  one  brief  interval  Bingham  Harvard  thought 
deeply  when  he  replaced  the  receiver  on  the  hook. 

He  had  not  completed  his  search  of  Rushton's 
papers,  and  there  might  never  be  another  oppor- 
tunity. He  decided  that  he  would  allow  himself 
ten  minutes  more. 

He  sprang  to  the  desk  again  and  pulled  out  the 
contents  of  the  two  remaining  pigeonholes  that  he 
had  not  searched,  and  stuffed  them  into  his  pockets 
regardless  of  what  they  might  be.  Then  he  pulled 
out  the  drawers,  one  after  another,  and  fumbled 
rapidly  among  the  contents  of  them. 

There  was  a  package  of  small  memorandum 
books,  held  together  by  a  rubber  band,  and  a  glance 
into  one  of  them  told  him  that  they  might  possibly 
be  of  value,  so  he  dropped  the  entire  package  into 
his  side  pocket. 

He  looked  into  a  closet  and  discovered  a  very 
small  iron  safe,  but  it  was  locked,  and  he  did  not 
care  to  search  Rushton's  pockets  for  the  key. 


PLAYING  THE  GAME 87 

Then  he  snapped  off  the  lights,  leaving  Rush- 
ton  in  darkness,  and  passed  into  the  hall,  and  thence 
into  the  rear  room; 'but  a  quick  search  around  it 
was  unfruitful  of  results. 

He  knew  that  time  was  passing — that  it  would 
not  be  long,  after  headquarters  was  once  notified 
of  what  was  happening,  before  officers  would  come 
a-running  from  the  nearest  precinct  station  house, 
so  he  abandoned  the  idea  of  further  search,  and 
started  down  the  stairs. 

It  had  been  an  adventurous  night  thus  far,  and 
he  did  not  care  to  have  it  end  disastrously.  He 
was  assured,  too,  that  he  had  collected  some  valua- 
ble information  from  Rushton's  desk — or,  at  least, 
the  beginning  of  things  that  would  prove  to  be  of 
value. 

As  he  opened  the  street  door  and  stepped  into 
the  vestibule  he  could  hear  the  sound  of  running 
feet  approaching  the  house,  and  he  had  no  doubts 
about  what  that  meant. 

But  he  paused  an  instant,  nevertheless,  for  his 
trained  ear  told  him  that  men  were  running  to- 
ward him  from  either  direction;  and  then,  too,  the 
rumble  of  a  heavy  wagon  and  the  pounding  of 
horses'  hoofs  on  the  pavement  announced  the  rapid 
approach  of  the  patrol  wagon. 

It  did  not  occur  to  him  that  he  would  be  unable 
to  get  through  them  and  escape;  the  thought  that 
was  uppermost  in  his  mind  at  that  moment  was 


88        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

one  of  dread  lest  he  should  be  compelled  to  hurt 
somebody  before  he  would  be  able  to  do  so — 'for  he 
had  determined,  if  it  were  possible,  to  carry  out  the 
task  he  had  set  himself  to  do  in  clearing  his  own 
name,  without  injuring  anybody. 

The  noise  of  running  feet  came  nearer  from 
both  directions,  and  with  sudden  resolution  the 
Night  Wind  stepped  outside  of  the  door  and  closed 
it  tightly  after  him. 

Then,  perceiving  that  he  had  no  time  to  make  a 
getaway,  he  turned  about  and  began  to  shake  the 
door,  apparently  with  all  his  strength,  although  he 
really  used  but  little  of  it — and  then  half  a  dozen 
cops  dashed  up  the  steps  behind  him. 

He  did  not  wait  for  them  to  question  him;  he 
shouted  orders  at  them;  and  he  did  it  in  a  manner 
so  peremptory  that  they  very  naturally  mistook 
him  for  a  plain  clothes  man  who  had  "beat  them 
to  it." 

"Quick,  now.  All  together,"  he  ordered.  "Smash 
in  the  door.  One,  two — there  you  are !" 

There  was  a  rending  crash.  The  door  gave  way 
before  the  onslaught  of  the  several  men  who  threw 
themselves  against  it.  There  was  a  smashing  splin- 
tering of  wood,  the  clinking  of  broken  glass,  the 
harsh  rending  of  iron — and  the  Night  Wind  passed 
into  the  darkness  of  the  hall  in  the  very  forefront 
of  those  uniformed  men. 

It  was  then  that  he  managed  to  step  to  one  side 


PLAYING  THE  GAME 89 

while  they  passed  him  and  stumbled  and  ran  up  the 
stairway. 

Somebody  shouted  an  order  for  somebody  else 
to  remain  on  guard  at  the  door,  and  for  still  an- 
other somebody  or  two  to  perform  the  same  ser- 
vice outside  on  the  pavement.  The  people  who 
lived  on  the  parlor  floor  of  the  house,  and  on  the 
second  floor  also,  opened  their  doors  in  affright, 
yelled  murder  and  fire  and  other  things,  and 
slammed  them  shut  again. 

The  patrol  wagon  deposited  its  quota  of  men 
at  the  curb,  and  they  came  tumbling  into  the  house 
— and  just  as  the  major  part  of  them  passed  him 
the  Night  Wind  stepped  outside  and  ran  quickly 
down  the  steps. 

One  of  the  uniformed  men  who  was  on  guard 
stepped  toward  him,  and  the  Night  Wind  seized  him 
by  the  arm  and  dragged  him  rapidly  along  the  side- 
walk, exclaiming  as  he  did  so: 

"Come  here  a  moment!  I've  got  something  to 
say  to  you !  You  other  fellows  stay  where  you  are !" 

It  worked. 

A  few  doors  farther  along  the  street  the  Night 
Wind  seized  his  man  and  dexterously  relieved  him 
of  his  gun,  which  he  threw  into  the  middle  of  the 
street ;  and  as  he  did  so  he  said  smilingly : 

"I  am  the  Night  Wind,  my  friend.  You  can  go 
back  there  now  and  tell  them  that  you  saw  me. 
They  will  be  pleased  to  hear  it." 


CHAPTER    X 
A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY" 

There  was  a  small  and  select  gathering  of  police 
officials  in  the  private  office  of  the  inspector  the 
following  day  at  noon.  It  is  a  notable  fact,  and 
one  worthy  of  record,  that  the  deputy  commis- 
sioner was  not  among  them. 

The  inspector  had  summoned  them  one  by  one, 
and  when  the  few  were  present  whom  he  desired 
orders  were  given  that  he  was  not  to  be  disturbed 
on  any  account  for  half  an  hour,  and  the  door  was 
locked  to  make  sure. 

Just  how  we  know  about  that  conference  in  order 
to  report  it  at  this  time  of  the  story  should  be  ex- 
plained as  demonstrative  of  the  thoroughness  with 
which  Tom  Clancy  was  working  in  the  interests  of 
his  friend  Harvard,  and  as  showing  how  wisely  he 
had  made  his  selection  of  the  detective  agency  that 
was  to  perform  much  of  the  work — that  agency 
which  was  directed  by  the  master  mind  to  whom 
Tom  referred  as  "Redhead." 

90 


A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY"  91 

There  were  present,  besides  the  inspector,  Lieu- 
tenants Rushton,  Coniglio,  and  Masters;  and  De- 
tective-sergeants Boynton,  Potowski,  and  Connor; 
and  please  don't  forget  Connor,  for,  as  it  happens, 
he  had  worked  side  by  side  with  Redhead  in  a 
Western  State  long  before  he  became  a  member 
of  the  New  York  police  department,  and  was  still 
working  for  him.  Are  we  wise  now?  Redhead 
had  long  ago  found  it  important  that  he  should  keep 
posted  concerning  the  inside  workings  of  police  de- 
partments in  various  cities,  and  hence 

Rushton  delivered  a  short  speech.  He  said  (con- 
densed) : 

"You  guys  all  know  enough  about  the  Night 
Wind  an'  what  he  has  done  to  us,  an'  what  he's 
likely  to  do  to  us  unless  we  put  the  kibosh  onto 
him,  so  it  ain't  necessary  for  me  to  go  into  par- 
ticulars." Rushton  looked  from  face  to  face  in  that 
gathering  to  make  sure  that  they  each  appreciated 
the  significance  of  what  he  had  said;  then  he  con- 
tinued : 

"The  Night  Wind  has  come  back,  and  he's  worse 
than  ever — take  it  from  me;  and  from  the  skipper, 
too.  Both  of  us  saw  him  last  night,  and  both  times 
he  saw  us  first.  Some  of  you  know  by  experience 
what  that  means ;  some  of  you  know  only  by  hear- 
say, but  you  may  as  well  put  it  down  in  your 
memoranda  that  when  the  Night  Win4  sees  you 
first  there  ain't  nothin'  doin'  for  you. 


92        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"The  skipper  'n  me  ain't  personally  ashamed  of 
what  happened  to  us  last  night,  because  this  Bing 
Harvard  ain't  really  human.  He  is  something  su- 
pernatural. He's  chain  lightning  in  his  motions, 
a  panther  in  his  tread  on  the  streets,  the  tongue  of 
a  toad  in  his  agility,  and  a  veritable  Samson  in 
strength.  He's  the  strongest  and  the  quickest  man 
I  ever  heard  of.  There  ain't  no  man  livin'  that 
can  stand  up  against  him,  so  it  ain't  no  dishonor  to 
have  him  get  the  best  of  you.  Them  that's  been 
up  against  him  know  that. 

"He  says  he  has  stopped  breaking  bones  an' 
maiming  us  cops,  an'  maybe  he  has.  But  it  wouldn't 
be  safe  to  bank  too  heavily  on  that  proposition  if 
one  or  two  of  you  should  undertake  to  tackle  him. 
It's  a  cinch  that  if  he  had  to  do  it  in  order  to  make 
a  getaway  he'd  be  right  there  on  the  job. 

"When  he  moves  he  don't  make  no  more  noise 
than  a  shadow — and  how  he  does  it  I  don't  know. 
He  says  he  has  come  back  here  to  clear  his  name, 
but  I  happen  to  be  the  guy  that  got  the  goods  on 
him  for  that  Centropolis  bank  affair,  and  so  I  know 
that  unless  he  frames  something  on  somebody  else 
he's  the  guilty  man.  Anyhow,  there's  an  indictment 
out  against  him,  and  we've  got  to  get  him.  We've 
got  to  or  go  out  of  business. 

"Now  I'm  comin'  to  the  point  of  this  here  state- 
ment. 

"The   Night   Wind   didn't   come  back   to   New 


A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY"  93 

York  alone.  He  brought  Lady  Kate — her  that  used 
to  be  down  here  with  us — back  with  him.  She  says 
she's  his  wife  now;  and  he  says  so,  too;  but  I  ain't 
seen  no  marriage  certificate,  and,  so  whether  it's 
true  'r  not,  we  ain't  got  no  call  to  take  official  no- 
tice of  it. 

"And  that  ain't  all.  He  has  got  a  friend  in  this 
burg  who  is  some  friend — name  of  Tom  Clancy — 
a  down-town  stock  broker,  comfortably  rich,  and 
willin'  to  spend  his  last  dollar  for  Bing  Harvard. 
He  is  something  of  a  sport,  as  slick  as  grease,  ain't 
afraid  of  nothin',  and  as  busy  as  a  cat  that  has  been 
smeared  over  with  lard. 

"Well,  we've  got  to  get  them  two,  an'  get  'em 
good  and  plenty! 

"That  is  what  you  guys  are  here  to  be  told.  It 
don't  make  much  difference  how  we  get  'em,  so  long 
as  we  do  it,  for  the  skipper  and  me  are  about  agreed 
that  we  ain't  likely  to  put  the  irons  onto  the  Night 
Wind's  wrists  as  long  as  them  two  are  runnin' 
around  loose. 

"There  are  seven  of  us  here  in  this  bunch,  and 
what  passes  between  us  seven  don't  go  no  farther — 
see?  We've  got  to  work  together  for  the  good  of 
the  community  and  for  the  force,  and  the  one  thing 
that  we've  got  to  do  right  off  the  reel  is  to  find 
some  means  of  sendin'  them  two — Lady  Kate  and 
Clancy — away. 

"I  ain't  askin'  you  to  frame  nothin'.     That  ain't 


94        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

my  way.  But  it's  a  cinch  that  if  you  look  close 
enough  into  the  history  of  any  man  'r  woman  you'll 
find  something  that  will  do  the  trick.  I  guess  that's 
all,  inspector." 

The  inspector  took  his  feet  from  the  desk  and 
brought  them  down  solidly  upon  the  floor. 

"I  guess  you  understand  Lieutenant  Rushton  well 
enough  so  that  I  need  add  nothing  to  what  he  has 
said,"  he  told  them.  "Coniglio,  you  and  Masters, 
with  Boynton  and  Potowski  on  the  side,  are  as- 
signed to  Clancy.  The  rest  of  us  will  take  care  of 
the  girl.  I  want  quick  action  if  I  can  get  it.  That 
is  all — only  I  want  to  be  kept  thoroughly  posted  all 
the  time." 

Behind  closed  doors  in  another  private  office 
farther  down-town  there  was  also  a  consultation. 
It  took  place  at  approximately  the  same  hour,  and 
was  between  two  persons,  of  whom  one  was  Red- 
head and  the  other  Lady  Kate. 

It  was  the  first  meeting  between  these  two;  but 
Clancy  had  arranged  for  it,  and  Katherine  was 
expected,  when  Black  Julius  drove  her  there  in  the 
imitation  taxicab. 

There  was  some  preliminary  talk  between  them 
which  need  not  be  recorded,  and  then: 

"It  might  have  been  better,  Mrs.  Harvard,  if  you 
had  returned  directly  to  your  old  job  at  headquar- 
ters instead  of  going  to  Chester  as  you  did.  No 


A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY"  95 

doubt  the  inspector  would  have  taken  you  back, 
and — well,  there  might  have  been  possibilities — 
eh?" 

"Perhaps.  But  they  never  would  have  trusted 
me  again.  They  were  morally  certain  that  I  went 
away  with  Mr.  Harvard;  indeed,  some  of  them 
knew  the  fact.  Bingham  and  I  saw  and  recognized 
four  members  of  the  force  at  the  pier  the  day  we 
sailed,  and  we  were  reasonably  certain  that  they 
saw  and  recognized  us.  No;  I  think  I  did  right, 
chief." 

"Are  you  aware  that  under  the  circumstances, 
as  they  now  exist,  you  are  in  constant  danger,  Mrs. 
Harvard?"  he  asked  her. 

"Quite  so,"  she  smiled  back  at  him. 

"They  will  want  to  get  you  out  of  the  way,  and 
at  once ;  and  Clancy,  too.  But  you,  even  more  than 
he.  You  are  an  active  menace  to  them  and  to  every- 
thing that  they  stand  for.  Rushton  and  a  few  of 
his  cronies  will  not  hesitate  to  frame  something 
on  you,  and  the  very  fact  that  you  have  been  one 
of  them  will  render  that  an  easy  task.  Really,  Mrs. 
Harvard,  you  should  keep  out  of  sight.  This  is  a 
man's  job,  not  a  woman's." 

"I  shall  pass  out  of  sight,  chief,  the  moment  I 
leave  this  office.  I  determined  upon  that  much,  and 
exactly  how  I  would  accomplish  it,  before  I  landed 
in  New  York.  And  that  is  the  real  reason  for  my 
presence  here,  to  consult  with  you.  I  used  to  think, 


96        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

when  I  was  connected  with  headquarters,  that  I 
would  much  rather  have  been  here  with  you  than 
there." 

"I  heartily  wish  you  had  been,"  he  replied  earn- 
estly. 

"And  now  I  want  your  promise  of  secrecy  con- 
cerning me.  I  mean  that  I  do  not  wish  my  hus- 
band to  know  where  I  may  be,  or  what  I  am  doing. 
I  wish  him  to  be  kept  in  entire  ignorance.  Is  that 
agreed  upon?" 

"Certainly." 

"I  will  report  directly  to  you  from  time  to  time, 
and  you  will  make  such  use  as  you  see  fit  of  what 
I  may  be  able  to  tell  you.  Only,  I  wanted  to  be 
sure  of  your  approval  and  your  cooperation." 

"Of  my  cooperation,  surely.  Of  my  approval— 
I  will  first  have  to  know  something  more  about 
what  you  think  of  undertaking." 

"Chief,  I  have  thought  and  dreamed  and  planned 
for  this  opportunity  constantly,  ever  since  I  left 
New  York.  I  have  worked  out  countless  ideas,  only 
to  dismiss  each  one  as  being,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other, impracticable.  I  will  tell  you  what  I  have 
decided  upon  presently,  but,  first,  will  you  reply  to 
a  few  questions  that  I  wish  to  ask?" 

"Gladly— if  I  can." 

"Who  took  that  money?  I  do  not  mean,  what 
person  took  it.  But  was  it  an  inside  job,  or  was 
it  accomplished  from  the  outside,  in  some  inex- 


A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY"  97 

plicable  manner  ?  What  is  your  opinion  as  to  that  ? 
Mr.  Clancy  has  told  me  that  you  have  had  one  of 
your  men  acting  as  an  employee  at  the  bank  for 
some  time." 

"That  is  true,  Mrs.  Harvard.  I  cannot  answer 
your  question,  however,  more  than  to  say  that  I  am 
personally  satisfied  that  neither  of  the  two  assist- 
ant tellers  was  the  thief.  My  operative  at  the  bank 
has  accomplished  absolutely  nothing.  I  have  kept 
every  man  who  is  employed  there  (who  might  have 
stolen  the  money)  under  rigid  surveillance — with 
no  result  whatever.  And  if  one  of  those  men  had 
taken  it,  there  would  have  been  a  result." 

"So  you  incline  to  the  theory  of  an  outside  job?" 

"If  there  was  a  job.  But  one  confronts  greater 
difficulties  in  the  theory  of  an  outside  worker  than 
in  the  other  one." 

"What  do  you  mean  when  you  say  'if  there  was 
a  job'?" 

"Sometimes  I  am  on  the  point  of  believing  that 
the  money  was  never  stolen  at  all." 

"But  that  is  absurd.  Don't  forget  that  it  was 
Bingham  who  discovered  the  loss." 

"Precisely.  You  have  made  use  of  the  right 
word — loss.  Was  the  money  stolen  or  was  it  lost?" 

"But  it  couldn't  have  been  lost,  chief,  inside  of 
that  cage.  Of  course  it  was  stolen.  And  I  believe 
it  was  stolen  from  the  outside.  And — I  believe  that 
Rodney  Rushton  knows  who  stole  it,  and  has  ap- 


98        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

propriated  a  very  large  portion  of  it  to  his  own 
uses  since  he  found  out  that  interesting  fact.  And, 
also,  what  Rodney  RusMon  was  able  to  find  out 
you  can  discover  as  well  as  he — unless — 

"Unless  what,  Mrs.  Harvard?"  The  chief  was 
suddenly  interested  in  her  suggestions. 

"Unless  Rushton  knew,  before  the  money  dis- 
appeared, that  it  would  disappear"  she  replied  with 
slow  emphasis. 

"By  Jove!"  he  exclaimed,  and  leaned  back  in  his 
chair.  "A  double  frame-up,  eh  ?  The  idea  is  worth 
a  lot  of  careful  thought,  Mrs.  Harvard.  But  an 
outsider  could  not  have  taken  the  packages  of  money 
from  the  paying  teller's  cage  without  help  from  the 
inside." 

"Certainly  not.     And  expert  help,  at  that." 

"Which  fact  brings  us  up  against  it  just  as  hard 
as  we  were  before.  We  are  backed  up  into  the 
same  corner." 

Katherine  took  a  folded  sheet  of  paper  from  her 
mesh  bag  and  spread  it  open  on  the  desk  between 
them,  and  the  chief  bent  down  over  it. 

"This,"  she  said,  "is  a  detailed  plan  of  the  inside 
of  that  cage,  drawn  to  a  scale,  and  by  my  husband. 
And  here" — she  produced  a  second  paper — -"is  a 
floor  plan  of  the  bank  itself  prepared  in  the  same 
manner.  The  red  cross  on  this  one  shows  the  spot 
from  which  the  packages  of  bills  actually  disap- 
peared. The  black  circles  with  numbers  inside  of 


A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY"  99 

them,  on  both  plans,  indicate  the  positions  of  the 
various  workers  in  the  bank  at  the  time  of  the  theft, 
or  approximating  it  as  nearly  as  possible.  Below, 
and  against  each  of  the  numbers,  are  the  names 
and  occupations  of  the  workers.  Chief,  I  have 
studied  those  plans  until  I  can  close  my  eyes  and 
see  each  of  them  or  both  of  them  as  plainly  as  you 
see  them  now." 

"I  have  no  doubt  of  it.  They  make  an  interest- 
ing study,  too." 

Katherine  leaned  back  in  her  chair  again. 

"Ever  since  the  first  day  of  my  association  with 
the  New  York  police,"  she  said,  "I  have  heard  the 
word  'system'  dinned  into  my  ears.  Also,  in  study- 
ing over  those  plans  so  constantly,  I  was  reminded 
that  there  never  was  a  mathematical  problem  to  be 
worked  out  for  which  a  system  was  not  necessary. 
And — a  'key.'  And  so  I  have  searched  my  intelli- 
gence to  discover  the  system  by  which  those  pack- 
ages of  money  were  stolen  and  to  find  the  key  that 
would  open  that  system  and  make  it  available. 
I  think,  chief,  that  I  have  discovered  both." 

"You  do?" 

"Yes." 

"Then  the  task  is  already  accomplished,  Mrs. 
Harvard." 

"No.  It  must  yet  be  proven.  My  theories — and 
there  are  nothing  more  than  theories  as  yet — must 


100      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

be  established;  and  there  is  the  possibility  that  I 
may  be  utterly  in  error." 

"But,  tell  me " 

"Please  do  not  ask  me  to  do  that,  chief ;  not  yet. 
You  see,  I  haven't  the  courage  of  my  own  convic- 
tions in  this  matter — and  that  is  why  I  wish  to  work 
alone,  unaided  and  unimpeded,  until  I  have  discov- 
ered something  to  uphold  and  sustain  my  opinions. 
I  have  seen  one  innocent  man  terribly  wronged; 
and  the  man  inside  of  that  bank  who  is,  I  believe, 
the  key  to  this  mystery  may  be  as  innocent  as  my 
husband  was  and  is.  I  utterly  refuse  to  cast  even 
the  shadow  of  a  doubt  upon  him  until  I  have  satis- 
fied myself  that  I  have  a  fairly  good  reason  for 
doing  so. 

"But  you  may  keep  the  plans,  and  you  can  study 
them  as  I  have  done.  If  you  should  arrive  at  the 
same  solution  that  appeals  to  me — well,  then,  we 
will  consult  together  in  regard  to  it.  In  the  mean 
time,  I  shall  probably  have  established  it  or  shat- 
tered it." 

"And  your  method?  That  is  what  you  came 
here  to  consult  with  me  about,  isn't  it  ?" 

"Yes."  Katherine  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then, 
with  a  whimsical  smile,  said :  "I  am  perfectly  well 
aware,  chief,  that  the  detective  in  disguise  is  largely 
a  creature  of  romance;  but  nevertheless  I  have  de- 
termined upon  a  disguise  which  I  believe  will  be 
effective.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  I  should 


A  "SYSTEM"  AND  A  "KEY"          101 

find  a  place  inside  of  that  bank,  and  I  have  found  a 
way  to  accomplish  it,  with  your  aid." 

She  leaned  forward  and  laid  a  card  upon  the 
desk  before  him.  It  bore  a  name  (not  her  own) 
and  an  address. 

"Will  you  come  to  that  address  at  ten  o'clock  to- 
night, and  ask  for  that  person?"  Katherine  con- 
tinued. 

He  glanced  at  the  card,  then  uttered  a  low  whis- 
tle. "Will  that  person  be  you,  Mrs.  Harvard?"  he 
asked;  and  when  she  nodded  her  head  brightly  in 
assent  he  added: 

"You  will  be  obliged  to  sacrifice  something  in 
order  to  play  that  part;  and  I  am  afraid  that  you 
will  find  it  more  difficult  than  you  imagine.  How- 
ever, if  you  have  decided,  there  is  nothing  more 
to  be  said,  I  suppose.  I  will  be  there,  Mrs.  Har- 
vard, and  I  will  give  you  an  hour." 

As  Lady  Kate  descended  to  the  street  in  one  of 
the  elevators  Detective-Sergeant  Connor,  fresh 
from  that  conference  at  headquarters,  ascended  in 
another.  He  was  on  his  way  to  report  to  his  real 
chief,  Redhead;  but  he  did  not  know  that  Rodney 
Rushton  had  followed  him,  and  was,  even  then. 
waiting  outside  of  the  building. 

Still  less  did  Lady  Kate,  on  her  way  to  the  street, 
anticipate  the  possible  proximity  of  Lieutenant 
Rushton. 


CHAPTER    XI 
LADY  KATE'S  MISFORTUNE 

Rushton  saw  Lady  Kate.  Lady  Kate  did  not 
see  Rushton. 

If  Black  Julius  had  been  there  with  his  car,  wait- 
ing at  the  curb  where  his  mistress  left  him,  the 
things  that  happened  so  quickly  after  Katherine 
emerged  from  the  entrance  to  the  tall  building 
might  have  been  avoided;  but  the  traffic  regula- 
tions had  forced  Julius  to  take  his  car  around  the 
corner  to  wait. 

Only  a  moment  before  Lady  Kate  come  out  of 
the  building  Rushton  met  and  spoke  to  one  of  the 
regular  plain  clothes  men  who  were  attached  to 
that  precinct,  and  they  were  still  talking  together 
when  she  appeared. 

Rushton  could  think  quickly  on  occasion.  He 
did  it  then,  and  acted  with  the  thought. 

"Quick,  Hardner !"  he  exclaimed  under  his  breath 
with  sudden  inspiration.  "If  you'll  do  what  I  tell 
you  to  now,  and  do  it  right,  I'll  get  you  a  promo- 

102 


LADY  KATE'S  MISFORTUNE         103 

tion — and  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  D'ye 
see  that  woman  there,  at  the  curb  ?  Looks  as  though 
she  was  lookin'  f 'r  a  cab  'r  something.  I  want  her 
pinched  now,  quick!  Y'understand ?  Here;  take 
this" — and  he  shoved  something  that  he  took  from 
one  of  his  own  pockets  into  Hardner's  hand — "an' 
plant  it  on  her  before  she  is  searched.  She's  a 
dip — see?  Run  her  around  to  your  own  station 
house  an'  hold  her  there.  Stay  with  her  yourself, 
an'  don't  let  anybody  talk  to  her  or  her  talk  to  any- 
body— an'  no  telephoning  either.  And  you  stay 
right  on  the  job  with  her  till  further  orders.  Hurry ! 
She  is  moving  off.  You'll  have  the  big  chief  stuck 
on  you  if  you  do  this  job  right." 

Rushton  withdrew  into  a  doorway  behind  a  stand- 
ing show  case  and  watched. 

Hardner,  a  big  brute  of  a  man  who  had  "bull" 
and  plain  clothes  man  written  all  over  him,  and 
who  had  been  "bouncer"  in  a  dance  hall  before  he 
became  a  cop,  did  not  hesitate. 

He  shoved  himself  forward  through  the  throng 
of  people  who  were  moving  in  either  direction,  and 
he  dropped  a  great  paw  roughly  upon  Katherine's 
shoulder  and  whirled  her  around  so  that  she  faced 
him,  before  she  had  taken  half  a  dozen  steps  to- 
ward the  corner  around  which  Julius  had  taken  his 
car. 

"I  want  you,  my  little  lady,"  Hardner  said 
brutally,  with  a  grin  and  a  leer.  "I  saw  you  pinch 


RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

one  leather  a  minute  'r  two  ago,  and  I  guess  you've 
got  more'n  that  on  you.  Gee!  but  you're  a  peach, 
ain't  you?  With  a  pair  of  lamps  like  yours,  you 
ain't  got  no  call  to  be  a  common  dip.  Not  you. 
Come  along." 

He  seized  her  roughly  by  the  arm  and  forced 
her  along  the  street  beside  him,  in  the  direction  op- 
posite the  corner  around  which  Julius  was  waiting. 

Lady  Kate  was  so  amazed  by  the  attack  and  the 
suddenness  of  it,  so  utterly  nonplussed,  that  she  had 
been  led  along  the  street  twenty  feet  or  more  be- 
fore she  recovered  her  natural  wit  and  poise;  and 
then  she  sought  to  wrench  her  arm  free  from 
Hardner's  grasp. 

But  the  effort  was  unavailing.  Also,  a  dozen  peo- 
ple had  witnessed  the  arrest,  and  a  crowd  was  rap- 
idly forming  around  them;  and  at  that  instant 
Hardner  threw  back  one  side  of  his  coat  and  ex- 
hibited his  shield  of  authority. 

Katherine  thoroughly  understood  how  futile  it 
would  be  to  attempt  resistance  there;  and  she  real- 
ized, also,  that  she  had  walked  into  a  trap  or  had 
fallen  into  one.  She  could  see  Rushton's  hand  in 
what  was  taking  place  as  plainly  as  if  it  had  been 
held  before  her  eyes. 

And  so  she  walked  along  quietly  beside  Hardner 
without  resistance  or  announced  objection.  And 
presently  they  arrived  at  the  station  house,  which 
was  not  far  distant,  where  she  hoped  and  believed 


LADY  KATE'S  MISFORTUNE         105 

she  would  find  somebody  who  knew  her,  who  would 
identify  her,  and  whom  she  could  persuade  to  be- 
friend her. 

But  Rushton  anticipated  any  such  event. 

No  sooner  had  Hardner  started  away  with  her 
before  Rushton  hurried  to  a  telephone,  and  he  had 
that  particular  station  house  on  the  wire  long  be- 
fore the  plain  clothes  man  and  his  charge  reached 
there. 

The  instructions  that  he  gave  were  explicit  and 
emphatic;  and  they  were  accompanied  by  threats 
that  were  not  to  be  doubted  in  their  general  char- 
acter. Thus,  when  Lady  Kate  did  arrive  at  the 
station  house,  a  sergeant  whom  she  did  not  know 
had  taken  the  lieutenant's  place  at  the  desk,  she  was 
roughly  questioned,  a  pretense  was  made  of  enter- 
ing the  record  of  the  case  in  the  "blotter,"  and  she 
was  rushed  into  the  captain's  room,  where  Hard- 
ner stood  guard  over  her  until  a  patrol  wagon  came 
and  took  her  away;  for  Rushton  had  done  more 
telephoning  than  merely  to  call  up  the  station  house. 

If  anybody  supposes  that  a  policeman  in  New 
York  City  cannot  do  pretty  nearly  as  he  pleases 
with  a  private  citizen,  in  spite  of  magistrates  and 
the  law  and  so-called  justice,  provided  that  police- 
man is  abetted  in  his  act  by  one  of  the  men  "higher 
up,"  Mr.  Anybody  has  got  another  guess  coming; 
and  Lady  Kate  speedily  found  herself  in  a  position 
that  was  by  no  means  enviable. 


106      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

The  "wagon"  did  not  take  her  to  headquarters, 
as  she  had  confidently  believed  it  was  intended  to 
do — for  she  surmised  that  she  would  have  some 
kind  of  a  frame-up  to  face,  and  she  was  prepared 
to  resort,  as  a  last  extremity,  to  certain  influences 
that  she  possessed  to  get  her  out  of  her  difficul- 
ties ;  influences  and  associations  which  she  had  never 
revealed  even  to  her  husband. 

She  had  reserved  that  part  of  her  history — the 
part  that  had  always  surrounded  her  with  a  cloak 
of  mystery — until  such  time  as  Bingham  Harvard 
would  be  enabled  to  face  the  world  as  an  honest 
man. 

That  wagon  was  met  by  another,  and,  still  later, 
the  second  one  was  met  by  a  third ;  and  in  the  course 
of  time,  after  having  been  driven  across  Queens- 
boro  Bridge,  Lady  Kate  realized  that  she  was  to 
be  given  no  opportunity  whatever  to  escape  from 
the  predicament  she  was  in. 

When  she  was  at  last  locked  up,  guarded  by  a 
matron  whose  face  was  as  hard  and  uncompromis- 
ing in  a  feminine  way  as  Hardner's,  she  knew  only 
that  she  was  somewhere  out  in  Queens,  but  she  had 
no  idea  as  to  the  exact  location. 

Her  cell  was  comfortable  enough — more  like  a 
small  room  than  a  cell;  but  she  understood  per- 
fectly well  that  she  would  not  have  been  sent  out 
to  that  remote  place  unless  the  persons  who  had 
her  sent  there  knew  what  they  were  about. 


LADY  KATE'S  MISFORTUNE         107 

There  would  be  no  hope  for  her  now  unless  she 
could  manage  an  actual  escape,  and  that  possibility 
appeared  to  be  exceedingly  vague  and  remote. 

In  the  mean  time,  Black  Julius,  always  patient 
where  his  loved  mistress  was  concerned,  became 
alarmed. 

Katherine  had  implicit  faith  in  her  servitor,  and 
usually  told  him  more  or  less  of  her  plans,  whenever 
he  drove  her  about  in  the  imitation  taxicab,  so  that 
he  could  meet  her  halfway  in  carrying  them  into 
effect. 

She  had  told  him  that  day  where  she  was  going, 
and  how  long  a  time  she  expected  to  be  detained; 
so,  when  almost  an  hour  more  than  that  time  had 
elapsed,  Julius  left  his  car  where  it  was,  entered  the 
tall  building,  and  sought  the  office  where  he  knew 
she  had  gone. 

For  reasons  of  his  own  he  adopted,  when  he  en- 
tered it,  the  dialect  of  a  Southern  negro;  and  for- 
tune favored  him  so  far  that  at  the  moment  he  en- 
tered the  reception  office  of  the  suite  Redhead  came 
into  it  through  another  door  at  the  opposite  side. 

"I's  lookin'  fo'  de  lady  what  I  done  druv  down 
yere  in  ma  cab,  boss,"  Julius  announced  with  a  bow. 
"She  said  she  was  comin'  out  mos'  an  houah  ago, 
an'  she  ain't  come  yet.  If  she's  yere,  boss,  will  you 
jes'  tell  her  that  I's  waitin'  ?" 

Chief  Redhead  eyed  the  negro  narrowly,  then 
stepped  closer  to  him. 


108      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Do  you  know  the  lady's  name?"  he  asked  in  a 
low  tone. 

"Yassir.  I's  heered  her  called  Mis'  Maxwell," 
Julius  replied. 

"She  left  here  almost  an  hour  ago.  Haven't  you 
seen  her?" 

"No,  sah;  an'  if  she  done  left  de  buildin'  she'd 
have  come  straight  as  a  string  to  me — unlessen 
somethin'  stopped  her."  Julius  was  genuinely 
alarmed  by  that  time. 

"You  go  into  my  private  office  and  wait  until 
I "  the  chief  began;  but  Julius  interrupted. 

"No,  sah,"  he  said.  "I'll  go  down  to  my  cab  an' 
wait  dere — jes'  a  lil'  while.  You  kin  fin'  me  aroun' 
de  corner." 

The  chief  had  no  difficulty  when  he  reached  the 
street,  and  by  deft  questioning,  in  discovering  what 
had  happened.  There  were  several  loiterers  about 
who  had  seen  a  young  woman  arrested  about  an 
hour  before  for  picking  pockets. 

The  man  at  the  cigar-stand  just  inside  the  en- 
trance to  the  building  had  witnessed  part  of  the 
incident;  and  there  were  others  also. 

The  chief  hurried  around  the  corner  to  Julius. 
He  had  made  a  close  surmise  as  to  the  real  char- 
acter of  the  negro. 

"Are  you  Mrs.  Harvard's  servant?"  he  asked 
abruptly.  "I  am  her  friend  and  confidant.  You 
need  not  be  afraid  to  tell  me." 


LADY  KATE'S  MISFORTUNE         109 

"Yes,  sir,"  Julius  replied,  dropping  the  assumed 
dialect. 

"I  thought  so.  She  was  arrested  on  a  false  charge 
when  she  came  out  of  the  building.  An  officer  in 
plain  clothes  took  her  away.  I  want  you  to  wait 
here  a  few  moments  until  I  return,  and  then  drive 
me  to  the  nearest  station  house." 

He  hurried  away  without  waiting  for  an  answer. 

Inside  of  his  own  office  he  summoned  one  of  his 
own  men  aside  and  rapidly  recounted  what  had  hap- 
pened. 

"Find  Connor,"  he  added,  "and  tell  him  all  I  have 
told  you.  Tell  him  to  get  me  all  the  particulars  of 
what  has  happened,  even  if  he  has  to  queer  him- 
self over  there  to  do  it.  I'm  afraid  he  is  queered 
anyhow.  Somebody  must  have  followed  him  when 
he  came  here  to  report,  and  while  waiting  outside 
for  him  saw  Lady  Kate  go  out.  More  than  likely 
it  was  Rushton  himself.  Tell  Com;or  that  if  he 
gets  a  move  on  him  he  can  find  out  wbat  I  want  to 
know  before  Rushton  has  had  time  to  tell  of  his 
suspicions.  I  am  going  around  to  the  station  house, 
but  I  don't  expect  to  get  such  information  there." 

Nor  did  he. 

He  was  permitted  to  examine  the  blotter  him- 
self. There  was  no  entry  concerning  such  a  case  as 
he  inquired  about.  No  pickpocket — male  or  female 
— had  been  brought  in  that  day.  (He  did  not  make 
use  of  her  name  in  making  his  inquiries.)  Every 


110      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

cop  at  the  station  house  was  profoundly  ignorant 
of  any  such  circumstances  as  he  described. 

The  face  of  Julius  was  very  grave  when  the  chief 
returned  to  him  outside. 

"I've  got  to  find  her,  sir,  right  away,  somehow," 
he  said  helplessly. 

"We  will  find  her  right  away — somehow,  Julius," 
was  the  quick  reply.  "There  is  one  chance  that  I 
may  learn  where  she  has  been  taken  within  an  hour 
or  two.  It  is  almost  certain  that  they  would  not 
take  her  to  headquarters,  or  to  a  near-by  station 
house." 

"I  want  to  help,  sir.    I've  got  to  help." 

"You  shall  help.  Take  me  back  to  my  office, 
then  return  for  me  in  two  hours.  I  will  have  de- 
termined upon  some  course  by  that  time." 

"I  won't  come  back,  sir.  I'll  wait,  or  maybe  I'll 
just  drive  around  the  streets  and  keep  my  eyes  open, 
and  if  I  happen  to  see  that  man  Rushton  get  in  my 
way  I'll  run  over  him  with  the  car." 

"Why?  What  do  you  know  about  Rushton?" 
the  chief  asked  quickly. 

"I  know  that  he  has  made  Miss  Kitty  every  bit 
of  trouble  she's  ever  had,  and  I  know  that  I  saw 
him  go  up  the  street  past  me  while  I  was  waiting 
around  the  corner  for  her;  and  if  she  has  been  ar- 
rested, as  you  say,  it  is  his  doings,  and  he  knows 
where  she  is  to  be  found.  And  if  I  happen  to  see 
him,  he's  got  to  tell  me,  sir." 


LADY  KATE'S  MISFORTUNE         111 

"No,  Julius,  not  that.  You  would  only  betray 
the  fact  to  him  that  you  are  her  servant,  and  she 
doesn't  wish  him  to  know  that.  Do  as  I  have  di- 
rected, and  leave  the  rest  to  me.  We  will  find  her." 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE    LITTLE    DOOR 

Exactly  midnight. 

The  Night  Wind  paused  in  the  doorway  he  had 
been  seeking  and  looked  up  and  down  the  street  by 
which  he  had  approached  it.  There  was  no  person 
in  sight.  He  turned,  then,  to  look  more  closely 
at  the  building. 

It  presented  every  outward  aspect  of  a  ware- 
house. The  windows  were  grimy,  and — he  as- 
sumed— cobwebbed,  although  it  was  much  too  dark 
just  there  for  him  to  determine  that.  They  were 
protected  by  heavy  wire-screens  that  were  almost 
as  effective  as  bars  might  have  been. 

The  door  was  a  huge  one,  through  the  open- 
ing of  which  truck  horses,  three  abreast,  could  have 
passed ;  but  there  was  a  very  small  door  in  the  mid- 
dle of  it,  faintly  determinable,  which,  he  assumed, 
was  the  one  which  would  be  opened  for  him  from 
the  inside  at  twelve-ten  precisely,  according  to  the 
directions  that  Tom  Clancy  had  given  him. 

112 


THE  LITTLE  DOOR  118 

It  was  the  night  following  his  interview  with  the 
inspector  and  with  Rushton;  the  night  that  fol- 
lowed upon  the  day  of  Katherine's  disappearance. 
But  he  had,  as  yet,  heard  nothing  of  that. 

He  turned  his  back  to  the  little  door  the  better 
to  be  watchful  for  the  approach  of  strangers  along 
the  street,  and  so  did  not  hear  it  when  it  was 
opened — and  then  Tom  Clancy's  voice  brought  him 
sharply  around  again. 

"Hello,  Bing.    Come  in,"  was  the  greeting. 

Harvard  stepped  through  the  narrow  doorway 
into  impenetrable  blackness.  He  felt  Tom's  grasp 
upon  his  arm,  and  was  led  blindly  forward  through 
a  thick  wall  of  darkness  until  at  last  a  faint  glim- 
mer of  light  could  be  seen. 

It  looked  as  if  it  were  a  mile  away,  but  they  came 
to  it  in  another  moment,  after  which  they  mounted 
some  stairs,  traversed  another  considerable  dis- 
tance (Tom  carried  the  candle  now  that  he  had  left 
waiting  on  the  stairs),  ascended  to  a  third  floor 
where  they  presently  came  to  an  iron  ladder  at  the 
top  of  which  there  was  an  opening  through  which 
the  stars  could  be  seen. 

There  was  a  structure  on  the  roof,  square  and 
roomy,  once  a  combination  of  cupola  and  watch- 
tower,  but  now  transformed  into  a  place  of  resi- 
dence. 

The  door  stood  invitingly  open,  a  student-lamp 
with  a  green  shade  was  on  the  center-table  of  the 


114      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

one  room,  there  were  rugs  on  the  floor,  a  three- 
quarter  bed  in  one  corner,  a  couch  in  another,  sev- 
eral comfortable  chairs,  two  well-filled  bookcases, 
and  a  genial  air  of  comfort  and  hominess. 

"Behold  your  future  residence,  Mr.  Night 
Wind,"  Clancy  exclaimed  as  he  closed  the  door. 
There  had  not  been  a  word  passed  between  them 
since  the  first  greetings  at  the  street. 

"You  are  to  live  here,  Bing,  until  we  catch  that 
thief.  Wait  a  minute,  now,  till  I  finish.  I've  got 
to  get  this  off  of  my  chest." 

"Go  on,  then." 

"There  are  four  ways  out  of  the  building  down 
on  the  ground  floor,  one  on  each  of  the  four  sides. 
One  opens  upon  the  street,  as  you  know ;  the  others 
give  upon  narrow  alleyways,  which  in  turn  will 
take  you  to  one  of  the  two  streets.  Up  there  in 
the  corner  is  a  coil  of  knotted  rope,  and  out  on  the 
cornices,  yonder,  and  yonder" — -he  pointed  in  two 
directions — "are  iron  hooks,  in  case  you  should 
happen  to  want  to  take  to  the  street  from  the  roof. 
Right  there,  on  the  table,  is  a  telephone.  It  is  a 
private  wire  into  Redhead's  office,  which  nobody 
but  himself  and  ourselves  and  the  telephone  com- 
pany know  about." 

"Oh.     So  this  place  is  his,  eh?"  Bingham  asked. 

"Yes.  He  calls  it  his  think-shop.  Whenever  the 
world  and  worldly  things  get  on  his  nerves  he 
chucks  the  world  and  comes  here;  and  he  has  put 


THE  LITTLE  DOOR  115 

the  place  at  your  disposal  as  long  as  you  may  need 
it.  It  is  better  than  the  fly-by-night  existence  that 
you  would  otherwise  have  to  lead,  isn't  it?" 

"Decidedly.  I'm  very  grateful.  But  where  is 
he?  You  said  he  was  to  be  here,  Tom." 

"He  couldn't  make  it,  Bing.  Something  else  de- 
manded his  attention.  He  sent  me  word  of  it  at 
the  last  moment.  But  he  will  be  here  before  day- 
light, if  possible." 

"Where  is  he?  What  has  happened?"  Harvard 
asked  suspiciously.  Something  about  Clancy's  man- 
ner warned  him  that  there  was  a  reason  which  con- 
cerned himself. 

"I  have  got  some  bad  news  for  you,  Bing.  The 
chief  told  me  not  to  tell  you  about  it  till  he  got 
here,  because  he  believed  there  would  be  no  reason 
for  telling  it  afterward.  But  I  don't  think  it's  right 
to  withhold  it." 

"Well?    Well?    What  is  it?" 

"Katherine  has  been  arrested." 

Harvard  started  to  his  feet,  stood  still  and  rigid 
for  a  moment,  then  succeeded  in  controlling  him- 
self and  sat  down  slowly  again. 

"Tell  me  about  it,"  he  said  with  forced  calm. 
"Every  word  of  it;  all  that  you  know  about  it." 

And  so  Clancy  told  him — everything  that  he 
knew  at  the  time,  and  Harvard  listened  in  utter 
silence. 

At  the  end  of  the  recital  he  was  still  silent  for 


116      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

so  long  a  time  that  Clancy  twice  raised  his  eyes 
expectantly,  but  wisely  kept  still,  waiting  for  his 
friend  to  speak. 

Then  Harvard  left  his  chair,  went  to  the  door 
and  passed  outside  on  the  roof  which  covered  a 
considerable  area  and  was  dipped  toward  the  rear 
of  the  building  just  enough  to  allow  for  drainage; 
otherwise  it  was  flat. 

"I  am  not  going  to  wait  here  for  the  arrival  of 
your  friend  Redhead,"  he  said  to  Tom  when  the 
latter  followed  him  outside.  "I  am  going  to  find 
{Catherine." 

"But  how?  Where  will  you  go?  How  will  you 
find  her,  Bing?" 

"I  will  find  her  by  seeking  the  men  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  her  arrest  and  compelling  them  to  tell 
me  where  she  is.  Great  Heaven,  Tom,  don't  you 
understand  what  this  move  of  theirs  means?  Why, 
it  is  even  a  worse  frame-up  than  Rushton  put  over 
on  me.  Unless  I  get  her  out  of  their  clutches,  and 
do  it  at  once,  Katherine  will  be  railroaded  to  prison 
on  a  false  charge,  and  there  won't  be  a  ghost  of  a 
show  for  her.  Don't  you  see  it?" 

"Yes ;  of  course  I  do  see  it.     But  the  chief " 

"The  chief  will  do  everything  in  his  power,  of 
course.  Let  him  keep  on  doing  it.  If  he  succeeds 
in  finding  her  and  rescuing  her  before  I  do,  so 
much  the  better.  But  I  will  tell  you  one  thing, 
Tom.  It  is  this :  if  those  fellows  keep  up  this  sort 


THE  LITTLE  DOOR 117 

of  thing  they  will  force  me  back  again  into  the 
condition  of  mind  I  was  in  before  I  went  away, 
and  if  that  happens  I  will  take  the  law  into  my  own 
hands  in  a  manner  that  won't  be  good  for  the  sev- 
eral men  who  are  responsible  for  this  business." 

"Be  careful,  Bing." 

"Oh,  I  am  cool  enough.  I  haven't  lost  my  tem- 
per, and  I'm  not  going  to.  Take  me  down  to  the 
street  and  let  me  out.  Then  give  me  the  key  that 
will  admit  me  here  again  when  I  wish  to  return." 

"Tell  me  what  you  are  going  to  do,  Bing." 

"I  don't  know — all  that  I  shall  do.  But  I  will 
go,  first,  to  Chester's  house  to  see  him.  What  I 
may  do  after  that  will  depend  largely  upon  Ches- 
ter." 

"He  won't  admit  you.  Katherine  gave  up  your 
key  to  him,  you  know." 

"I  have  another  one.  I  had  a  duplicate  made  of 
that  one  long  ago.  I  am  going  straight  from  here 
to  Chester's  house,  and  to  his  bedside.  It  is  high 
time  that  I  had  a  personal  interview  with  him,  any- 
how. I  will  make  him  find  out  for  me  where  they 
have  taken  Katherine." 

"Do  you  think  you  can  do  that?" 

"I  will  do  it,  Tom.  You  may  tell  the  chief,  as 
you  call  him,  to  telephone  to  me,  here,  at  noon  to- 
morrow. Give  me  his  number,  and  in  case  I  am  not 
here,  or  able  to  get  here  in  time  I  will  telephone  to 
him  a  little  before  twelve." 


118      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

At  the  little  door  through  the  big  one,  which 
gave  upon  the  street,  Clancy  put  one  hand  on  his 
friend's  shoulder  and  said : 

"I  know  there  is  no  stopping  you,  Bing,  so  I 
won't  try.  But  there  is  something  more  I  wish  to 
say  to  you  before  you  go." 

"Well?" 

"In  the  interview  that  Katherine  had  with  the 
chief  she  advanced  some  sort  of  a  theory — he  did 
not  explain  it  to  me  so  I  cannot  tell  you  what  it 
was — which  has  got  him  going  on  an  entirely  new 
tack.  He  said,  'Clancy,  that  girl  is  a  wonder.  She 
has  struck  the  key-note  of  the  whole  thing,  I  be- 
lieve" ;  and  that  is  all  he  would  tell  me.  Think  that 
over,  Bing,  while  you  are  on  your  way  to  Chester's ; 
that  is,  if  you  are  going  there." 

"Oh,  I  am  going  there,  Tom,  right  now!"  Har- 
vard replied  as  he  stepped  through  the  little  door- 
way to  the  street. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

PUTTING  ONE   OVER  ON   RUSHTON 

Sterling  Chester,  the  banker,  awoke  with  a  start. 
The  glare  of  many  electric  lights  in  his  room  where 
he  had  been  sleeping  dazzled  him ;  and  then  he  half 
started  to  a  sitting  posture  in  the  bed,  but  fell  back- 
ward upon  the  pillows  again  with  a  cry  of  amaze- 
ment and  fright  when  the  tall  figure  of  a  man 
stepped  into  view. 

"Bingham!  You?"  he  cried  out,  and  yet  his 
voice  was  raised  but  little. 

"Yes.  It  is  I,  Mr.  Chester,"  Harvard  replied 
calmly.  "Stay  where  you  are.  You  need  not  leave 
your  bed;  and  don't  attempt  to  call  for  help  or  to 
give  any  sort  of  alarm.  It  would  not  avail." 

"What — what  are  you  going  to  do?  Why  are 
you  here?  Don't — please  don't  do  anything  that 
you  will  be  sorry  for,  Bingham."  The  banker  was 
beside  himself  with  terror  in  the  presence  of  this 
man  who  had  been  so  grievously  wronged. 

"I  did  not  come  here  to  injure  you  in  any  way," 
119 


120      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Mr.  Chester,"  Harvard  replied  slowly.  "Do  you 
know  me  so  little  that  you  fear  I  might  do  that?" 

"How — how  did  you  get  in?  She — that  woman 
who  came  here  one  night  and  waited  for  me  in  the 
library — gave  me  the  key  that  you  had." 

"I  had  two,  sir.  I  gave  her  only  one  of  them. 
And  please  to  remember  that  'that  woman'  is  my 
wife.  She  is  Mrs.  Bingham  Harvard,  if  you  have 
occasion  to  refer  to  her  again.  It  is  on  her  account 
that  I  am  here  now." 

"On  her — on  Mrs.  Harvard's  account,  you  say?'' 
The  banker  was  endeavoring  with  all  his  power  to 
speak  composedly;  but  he  was  horribly  afraid;  he 
did  not  know  what  this  man  might  yet  do  to  him. 
He  feared  to  do  or  say  anything  which  might  try 
that  temper  of  which  he  had  seen  more  than  one 
exhibition. 

"Yes.  Your  friends  whom  you  have  taken  to 
your  bosom,  whom  you  permitted  and  assisted  to 
perpetrate  the  foul  wrong  against  me,  have  turned 
their  attention  and  their  activities  against  my  wife. 
Failing  to  'get'  me,  they  believe  that  they  can  reach 
me  through  her.  She  was  arrested  yesterday,  in 
the  early  afternoon,  and  has  been  spirited  away  to 
one  of  the  distant  precincts  of  the  city,  I  imagine. 
I  have  come  here  to  ask  you  to  find  out  for  me 
now  where  they  have  taken  her." 

"I?  If  My  dear  Bingham,  how  in  the  world 
can  I  do  that?" 


PUTTING  ONE  OVER  ON  RUSHTON      121 

"I  will  tell  you  presently  how  you  must  do  it, 
Mr.  Chester.  Rushton,  your  chosen  coadjutor,  in- 
stigated her  arrest.  She  is  charged  with  picking 
pockets.  It  is  another  one  of  his  scoundrelly 
frame-ups.  Whatever  they  found  upon  her  was 
'planted/  as  they  call  it.  She  will  not  have  a  ghost 
of  a  chance  to  clear  herself.  Unless  I  interfere  be- 
fore she  can  be  taken  into  some  distant  magistrate's 
court  this  morning  a  case  will  be  made  out  against 
her;  she  will  be  arraigned,  tried,  convicted,  sen- 
tenced— railroaded  to  prison  before  I  can  do  a  thing 
to  prevent  it." 

Harvard  hesitated  in  his  speech  for  just  a  mo- 
ment, and  while  he  did  so  the  banker  gradually  re- 
covered his  mental  poise.  He  was  still  in  fear  of 
what  Harvard  might  do  if  anything  should  occur 
to  rouse  that  terrible  temper;  but — the  banker  had 
not  seen  Bingham  Harvard  in  so  long  a  time  that 
the  mere  sight  of  him,  whom  he  had  loved  so  well 
as  child  and  boy  and  man,  gradually  got  the  better 
of  his  fears. 

Chester  was  conscious,  in  that  moment,  that  he 
still  loved  Bingham  Harvard;  that  still,  to  all  in- 
tent and  purpose,  the  man  who  stood  beside  his 
bed  was  the  grown-up  boy  to  whom  he  had  given 
the  affection  and  devotion  of  a  father. 

Yet  he  gave  no  sign  of  all  this. 

He  felt  less  fear,  more  self-assurance  as  to  true 
outcome  of  this  mysterious  midnight  call.  And 


122      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

as  if  in  confirmation  of  that  thought,  Harvard  spoke 
again,  in  a  changed  tone — in  a  voice  that  had  in  it 
something  of  the  old  thrill  of  respect,  esteem,  and 
love  that  he  had  always  so  freely  bestowed  upon 
his  lifelong  benefactor. 

"Mr.  Chester,"  he  said,  bending  slightly  forward, 
"cannot  you  understand  why  I  am  here?  Don't 
you  see  that  I  had  to  come  ?  Isn't  there  any  of  that 
old  love  for  me  left  in  your  heart  to  bestow  at  this 
crucial  moment?  Don't  answer  me  now.  Listen 
to  me,  instead.  She  whom  you  know  as  Lady  Kate 
is  my  wife.  She  is  my  world — my  all.  The  machi- 
nations of  Rushton,  which  began  when  he  first  suc- 
ceeded in  convincing  you  of  my  guilt,  have  grown 
and  spread  until  they  have  reached  out  and  seized 
upon  her,  my  wife. 

"I  was  desperate  before,  sir,  when  I  saw  my  good 
name  taken  from  me  by  the  falseness  of  manufac- 
tured evidence — worse  than  all  when  I  realized  that 
the  act  had  stolen  away  your  love  for  me;  for  I 
will  not  believe  that  it  was  killed." 

He  straightened  himself  and  took  a  step  farther 
away  from  the  bedside. 

"I  know  that  it  was  not  destroyed,  sir.  I  know 
now,  better  than  you  know  it  yourself,  that  in  your 
inmost  heart  there  still  glows  that  father-love 
which  you  gave  so  freely  to  me  through  so  many 
years  of  my  life. 

"Listen,   Mr.  Chester — listen,  gov'nor,   for  that 


PUTTING  ONE  OVER  ON  RUSHTON 

is  what  I  used  to  call  you,  and  what  you  liked  to 
have  me  call  you — it  is  to  that  father-love  that  you 
had  for  me  that  I  appeal  now.  Won't  you  help  me, 
sir?  But  even  if  you  are  reluctant  to  help  me, 
won't  you  help  her  in  this  extremity?" 

"But  how,  Bingham?  I  do  not  understand  you 
at  all.  How  can  I  be  of  help?"  the  banker  de- 
manded, with  just  a  little  show  of  petulance.  The 
fear  within  him  was  nearly  gone  by  that  time,  and 
yet  there  was  a  touch  of  it  left,  too.  Harvard  had 
touched  the  right  cord  of  memory  when  he  ap- 
pealed to  the  father-love.  "In  what  way  can  I  be 
of  assistance?  I  confess  that  I  do  not  see  how  that 
can  be." 

"Mr.  Chester — gov'nor — you  place  honesty  of 
purpose  and  of  conduct  above  all  things  else,  I 
know.  Justice,  impartially  meted  out  to  all,  is  your 
creed.  I  know  that,  too.  Then,  sir — my  more 
than  friend  in  the  past — no  matter  how  you  may 
regard  me,  I  ask  you  in  the  name  of  your  love  of 
honesty  to  be  just  to  Katherine." 

"Well,  well,  well,  Bingham,  what  is  it  that  you 
wish  me  to  do?  But,  before  you  tell  me  that,  try 
to  remember  that  you  have  no  right  to  be  here  in 
my  bedroom  now.  In  the  name  of  that  justice  you 
talk  about  I  should,  by  rights,  go  straight  to  the 

telephone,  summon  the  police,  and  turn  you  over 
,  » 


RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Harvard  raised  a  hand  in  warning.  The  banker 
stopped  with  the  sentence  unfinished. 

"Wait,"  Harvard  said.  "I  had  to  come  here — 
to  the  city  first;  to  you  now.  If  I  had  followed 
my  own  inclinations  I  would  have  taken  Katherine 
away  to  the  farthest  corner  of  the  world,  to  start 
life  all  over  again.  I  would  never  have  returned 
here,  even  to  establish  my  innocence,  if  she  had 
not  insisted  upon  it,  if  she  had  not  made  me  do  it. 

"I  had  to  come.  My  birthright,  mysterious  and 
unknown  though  it  is,  in  so  far  as  my  parentage 
is  concerned — my  birthright  is  honesty.  That 
birthright  I  must  not,  will  not,  lose.  Whoever 
gave  it  to  me  does  not  matter;  it  is  none  the  less 
my  own. 

"And  I  have  not  come  to  you  to-night  to  threaten 
you  or  to  harm  you  in  any  way.  God  forbid. 
Whatever  has  happened,  whatever  may  yet  hap- 
pen, I  love  you  as  a  son  should  love  his  own  father. 
If  you  will  not  help  me  to  do  justice  to  myself,  then 
help  me  to  do  justice  to  another.  Can  you  refuse 
such  a  plea  as  that,  sir?" 

"But  how?  How?  What  do  you  wish  me  to 
do?  You  have  not  told  me  that." 

"I  have  told  you  that  Katherine  is  even  now  in 
the  power  of  that  scoundrel,  Rodney  Rushton.  I 
have  told  you  that  he  has  framed  up  a  charge 
against  her  of  picking  pockets.  I  have  told  you 
that  in  order  to  make  that  charge  good  they  have 


PUTTING  ONE  OVER  ON  RUSHTON      125 

probably  not  hesitated  to  'plant'  articles  upon  her 
to  convict  her.  I  have  told  you  that  they  have 
spirited  her  away  to  some  station-house  or  jail 
where  I  cannot  hope  to  find  her  in  time  to  save  her 
from  this  terrible  danger.  I  have  told  you  that 
Rushton  has  done  this,  and  that  therefore  Rush- 
ton  knows  where  she  is  hidden.  I  want  you  to 
make — no,  induce  is  the  word — I  want  you  to  in- 
duce Lieutenant  Rushton  to  tell  you  where  she  is." 

"My  dear  Bingham" — the  banker  nearly  forgot 
himself  for  the  moment — "I  do  not  know  where 
Lieutenant  Rushton  may  be  now.  I  cannot  dress 
and  go  to  him  at  such  an  hour;  and  if  I  did  so,  he 
would  refuse  to  give  me  the  information  you  want." 

"I  know  where  Rushton  may  be  found  right 
now." 

"But " 

"And  there  is  the  telephone.  You  have  only  to 
throw  your  bath-robe  around  you  and  to  go  down 
with  me  to  the  library." 

"To  telephone  to  him?  To  telephone  to  Lieu- 
tenant Rushton  at  this  hour  of  the  night?" 

"Yes.  He  is  barely  more  than  arrived  home. 
More  than  likely  he  will  not  yet  have  gone  to  bed. 
He  will  answer  the  telephone.  And  if  you  couch 
your  request  in  the  right  words  and  manner  he  will 
tell  you." 

"But  I  do  not  know  what  to  say  to  him,"  Ches- 
ter protested,  nevertheless  rising  from  the  bed  and 


126      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

reaching  for  an  elaborately  quilted  dressing-gown 
— and  by  that  act  Bingham  Harvard  knew  that  he 
had  won,  although  he  was  not  certain  whether  it 
was  through  love  or  fear  that  he  had  done  so. 

"You  will  say,"  said  Harvard,  speaking  rapidly 
and  rinding  the  banker's  slippers  for  him  as  he  did 
so,  "that  you  have  only  just  now  learned  of  the 
arrest  of  Lady  Kate.  You  will  say  that  your  in- 
formation came  through  Tom  Clancy,  and  that  will 
be  the  truth,  for  I  got  the  news  from  him.  Are 
you  listening,  sir?" 

"Yes,  yes.    Goon." 

<Tf  he  should  ask  you  how  Clancy  came  to  know 
about  it,  say — truthfully — that  he  did  not  tell  you 
that.  Then,  Mr.  Chester — and  here  is  the  point!— 
you  must  congratulate  Rushton  upon  the  arrest; 
you  must  make  him  think  that  you  approve  of  it. 
You  must  give  him  to  understand  that  you  consider 
it  the  best  move  he  has  made  yet.  You  must  rub 
him  metaphorically  down  the  back  for  all  of  it.  Do 
you  understand?" 

"Yes.    But  I  cannot " 

"Mr.  Chester,  you  must.  There  are  no  two  ways 
about  it.  You  must.  And  there  is  more." 

"Well?     Well?" 

"You  must  tell  Rushton  that  you  wish  to  see 
Lady  Kate  the  first  thing  in  the  morning.  You 
must  make  Rushton  think  that  you  believe  you  can 
induce  her  to  betray  my  hiding-place.  Remind 


PUTTING  ONE  OVER  ON  RUSHTON      127 

him  of  the  fact  that  she  came  here  to  your  home 
one  night  and  practically  forced  her  way  inside. 
Suggest  to  him  that  you  will  frighten  her  into  tell- 
ing you  what  you  wish  to  know  about  me  by  hold- 
ing over  her  the  threat  of  another  indictment  for 
burglary.  You  can  do  it  and  you  must  do  it,  Mr. 
Chester.  Come.  You  are  ready.  Let  us  go  down." 

They  did  not  speak  again  until  they  were  in  the 
library  and  the  telephone  was  before  them.  But 
the  banker's  thoughts  had  evidently  been  upon  Har- 
vard's last  utterances. 

"And  then  ?"  he  asked.  "What  then— if  He  does 
tell  me  where  she  is  now?" 

"Then,  sir,  you  must  dress  yourself  and  go  with 
me  to  find  her." 

"But — at  this  hour  of  the  night,  and  when  I 
do  not  know  where  it  may  be " 

"Listen  once  again,  sir.  I  have  not  ceased  to 
love  you.  Even  at  this  moment  my  filial  impulses 
toward  you  are  uppermost.  And  yet  you  must  do 
what  I  ask.  It  hurts  me  more  than  I  can  say  to 
seem  to  threaten — but  you  must.  My  life,  Kath- 
erine's,  our  whole  future  and  your  contented  fu- 
ture, too,  sir — depend  upon  it,  and  I  would  be 
worse  than  a  weakling  if  I  did  not  force  you  to  it. 
Would  I  not?  You  know  that  I  would." 

The  banker  took  another  step  toward  the  tele- 
phone, and  halted  again. 

"Go  ahead,    sir,"    Harvard   said.      "Take   your 


128      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

seat  at  the  telephone.  I  will  hold  the  receiver  so 
that  we  both  may  hear  what  is  said.  When  neces- 
sary I  will  prompt  you  in  what  to  say.  Have  no1 
fear.  All  will  be  well.  It  will  not  be  as  difficult  as 
you  think.  You  will  find  that  he  will  fall  into  the 
trap.  Come,  sir;  you  must  do  it;  and  you  know 
that  you  can  and  will  do  it." 

Seated  at  the  telephone,  before  he  raised  the  re- 
ceiver from  the  hook,  Chester,  more  disturbed  than 
he  had  ever  been  in  his  life  before,  asked  once  again  : 

"Suppose — he — won't — tell  me  what  I  want  to 
know,  Bingham?" 

"He  must  tell  you.  You  must  make  him  do  it 
somehow.  For  I  tell  you  plainly,  Mr.  Chester,  if 
this  scheme  of  theirs  is  carried  out  I  shall  hold  you 
as  responsible  as  the  others;  and  I  will,  with  these 
two  hands  of  mine,  kill  every  man  who  has  been 
instrumental  in  bringing  disgrace  upon  my  wife. 
That  is  the  last  word,  sir.  Remember  that  you 
will  not  be  talking  half  so  much  to  save  her  as  to 
save  yourself." 

There  was  an  intensity  in  that  last  utterance  of 
Bingham  Harvard's  that  the  banker  could  not  mis- 
take. 

Harvard  lifted  the  receiver  from  the  hook  and 
asked  for  the  number;  and  after  a  wait  of  several 
moments  the  answer  came. 

Harvard  was  holding  the  receiver  so  that  both 
could  hear  it.  His  left  cheek  was  in  touch  with 


PUTTING  ONE  OVER  ON  RUSHTON      129 

Chester's  left  one  as  he  faced  away  from  the  trans- 
mitter, while  Chester's  lips  were  close  to  it. 

"Hello,  there!"  they  heard  the  voice  of  Rushton 
exclaim  angrily.  "What's  the  matter  with  you 
fellows?  Can't  you  ever  let  a  fellow  sleep?" 

"This — this  is  Mr.  Chester  speaking — Chester, 
of  the  Centropolis  Bank,  lieutenant,"  the  banker 
managed  to  announce  tremblingly.  "I — I  felt  that 
I  had  to  call  you  up  at  once,  on  account  of  some 
news  I  have  just  heard " 

"Some  splendid  news,"  Harvard  breathed  softly. 

"Some  really  splendid  news,  lieutenant,"  the 
banker  added. 

"Oh!  It's  you,  is  it,  Chester?"  Rushton  growled 
from  the  other  end.  "What's  the  matter  with  you  ? 
Your  voice  sounds  as  if  you  were  scared  to  death." 

"You  are  eager,"  the  Night  Wind  breathed  as 
softly  as  before. 

"I  am  only  eager — extremely  eager,  lieutenant. 
I  have  just  heard,  through  Clancy,  of  the — er — ar- 
rest of — er — that  woman  yesterday  afternoon. 
That  was  a  masterly  stroke,  lieutenant.  I — er " 

"You  must  see  her,"  Harvard  prompted. 

" must  see  her  at  once,  you  know,  so  I  want 

you  to  tell  me  where  she  is,  and " 

"You  must  see  her!  What  for?"  Rushton  de- 
manded. 

"Felonious  entrance,"  Harvard  prompted  in  a 
whisper. 


130      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Why,  don't  you  see?"  Chester  went  on,  re- 
membering his  instructions.  "She  came  here  to 
my  house  one  night  and  forced  her  way  inside. 
Couldn't  that  be  construed  into  an  attempted  bur- 
glary? And  couldn't  I  make  an  additional  charge 
against  her  when  she  is  arraigned  in  the  morning?" 

"Say,  Chester,"  Rushton  replied,  "I  didn't  think 
you  had  it  in  you.  You're  wakin'  up,  you  are. 
Now,  that  ain't  a  bad  idea  at  all.  But  what  do  you 
want  to  see  her  about?  You  don't  have  to  do  no 
talkin'  to  her  first  in  order  to  make  that  charge 
against  her." 

"Induce  her  to  betray  me,"  Harvard  whispered 
quickly. 

"Why — er — you  see,  lieutenant,  I  had  an  idea 
about  that,"  the  banker  continued  slowly,  choosing 
his  words  with  care,  for  he  was  in  dread  lest  he 
should  offend  the  man  whose  left  cheek  he  could 
feel  touching  his  own.  "You  see — er — that  the 
charge  I  shall  make  against  her  is  a  felony.  It  is 
quite — er — a  serious  matter,  is  it  not?" 

"Betcher  life  it  is,  Chester." 

"And — er — she  will  be  correspondingly  dis- 
mayed by  it,  I  assume ;  especially  coming  as  it  will 
in  addition  to  the  other  one." 

"Say,  Chester,  I'm  gittin'  to  be  real  proud  of 
you!"  Rushton  exclaimed  over  the  wire. 

"Use  it  as  a  lever — against  me,"  Harvard 
prompted  in  a  whisper. 


PUTTING  ONE  OVER  ON  RUSHTON      131 

"And — ahem — it  has  occurred  to  me,  Rushton," 
the  banker  continued,  "that  it  may  be  used  as  a 
sort  of  a  cudgel  over  her  head,  don't  you  see,  to 

induce  her  to  tell  us  something  about  Harvard,  and 
er er ,» 

"If  you  had  the  power  to  offer  her  immunity," 
Harvard  whispered. 

"Go  on,  Chester,"  Rushton  demanded  impa- 
tiently. 

"And — well,  if  I  had  the  power — from  you,  you 
know — to  offer  her  immunity;  to  let  her  go  free, 
provided  she  would  tell  me  something  about  Har- 
vard— why — er — don't  you  see,  Rushton?  She  is 
only  a  woman,  after  all;  and  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  idea  might  work." 

"You  would  have  to  see  her  alone — go  there 
where  she  is  alone,"  Harvard  prompted. 

"I  think  it's  a  cinch  of  an  idea,  Chester,"  Rush- 
ton  said.  "I'll  take  you  over  there  the  first  thing 
in  the " 

"No,  no,  no,  Rushton;  that  would  not  do  at  all. 
I  must  go  to  her  alone.  She  must  have  no  sus- 
picion whatever  that  you  have  any  knowledge  of 
what  I  am  doing.  It  would  make  her  suspicious 
and  might  spoil  everything." 

"I  guess  that's  right,  too.  You're  wakin'  up, 
Chester.  But  how'll  she  think  you  got  onto  the 
fact  of  her  arrest  at  all — eh?" 


132      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Why,  I'll  tell  her  the  truth;  that  I  heard  it 
through  Clancy." 

"Bully!  That'll  be  an  additional  lever,  at  that. 
What  time  will  you  go  to  see  her  if  I  tell  you  where 
to  find  her?  You'll  have  to  get  there  early,  you 
know." 

"At  seven,"  Harvard  prompted;  and  Chester  re- 
peated the  two  words  over  the  wire. 

"All  right.  I'll  fix  it  for  you,"  Rushton  replied. 
"I'll  telephone  out  there  right  now.  And  I'll  be 
there  myself  along  about  a  quarter  past  or  half 
past  seven,  after  you  have  gone  inside  to  talk  to 

her.  You  will  find  Lady  Kate  at  the "  And 

here  Rushton  gave  a  clear  description  of  the  lo- 
cality of  the  place  where  Katherine  was  confined 
and  how  the  banker  was  to  get  there  by  the  most 
direct  route ;  and  he  added  many  cautions  and  much 
advice  regarding  Chester's  methods  of  procedure 
when  he  should  see  her. 

"Say  good-by  and  hang  up  quickly,"  Harvard 
ordered ;  and  the  banker  obeyed. 

"And  now,  Mr.  Chester,  get  into  your  clothes 
and  be  ready  to  start  at  once,"  Harvard  directed 
then.  "While  you  are  doing  that  I  will  telephone  to 
the  garage  and  order  your  car,  for  I  will  need  it 
badly  as  soon  as  we  get  Katherine.  Hurry,  now,  for 
there  isn't  any  time  to  waste." 

Thirty  minutes  later,  at  exactly  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  they  started. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

INTO    JAIL — AND    OUT 

The  new  county  jail  in  Queens  had  not  been 
built  when  this  happened.  The  old  one,  since  re- 
placed, needs  no  comment  here.  Nor  were  the 
local  officials  celebrated  for  perspicacity  or  astute- 
ness. 

When  the  banker,  accompanied  by  the  Night 
Wind,  arrived  at  the  jail  the  latter  knew  that  he 
ran  a  considerable  risk  of  being  recognized,  but  he 
counted  upon  the  very  boldness  of  his  act  to  offset 
that  in  a  great  degree;  and  for  the  rest,  he  deter- 
mined to  make  constant  use  of  his  handkerchief 
and  to  keep  his  head  turned  away  as  much  as  pos- 
sible while  they  were  passing  the  guard. 

Also,  he  figured  that  at  that  hour  in  the  morn- 
ing— between  three  and  four  o'clock — the  turnkey's 
eyes  would  be  heavy  with  sleep,  and  that  doubtless 
his  mental  capacities  would  be  proportionately  stu- 
pefied. 

Harvard  had  planned  exactly  what  he  would  do 
133 


134      HETURN  OF  THE  XIGHT  WIND 

once  they  were  inside  the  prison  and  the  door  of 
Katherine's  cell  had  been  unlocked — or  in  case  the 
turnkey  should  decline  to  unlock  it,  as  he  would  be 
more  than  apt  to  do.  In  furtherance  of  those  plans 
the  Night  Wind  had  provided  himself  with  some 
stout  cord  and  two  of  the  banker's  towels  before 
they  started. 

There  was  some  difficulty  in  arousing  the  guard, 
who  was  supposed  to  be  wide  awake ;  but  he  came  to 
the  door  presently  and  glared  at  Chester  a  moment 
before  he  demanded  gruffly : 

"Well,  what  do  you  want?" 

"I  am  Mr.  Chester,  of  the  Centropolis  Bank," 
was  the  prompt  and  pompous  reply,  for  the  banker 
was  quite  himself  by  that  time.  "No  doubt  Lieu- 
tenant Rushton  has  already  telephoned  to  you  re- 
garding me.  I  am  to  be  admitted  at  once — at  once, 
do  you  understand? — to  see  the  woman  who  is  de- 
tained here  under  the  name  of  Kate  Maxwell,  alias 
Lady  Kate."  Harvard  had  prompted  him  exactly 
what  to  say  at  the  start. 

"Huh!"  the  turnkey  replied.  "You  ain't  due 
here  till  seven  o'clock,  and  there  wasn't  anything 
said  about  two  of  you.  You  were  to  come  alone." 

"Those  are  mere  details,  Mr.  Turnkey.  If  you 
have  any  doubts  about  the  matter,  you  can  call  up 
Lieutenant  Rushton — although  I  don't  think  he 
would  thank  you  for  doing  it  after  he  has  given 
you  explicit  orders." 


INTO  JAIL— AND  OUT  135 

"More'n  likely  she's  undressed  and  in  bed,"  the 
turnkey  replied,  as  he  admitted  them  grumblingly. 

"In  that  case  she  will  have  to  dress  again,"  Ches- 
ter announced,  as  he  brushed  his  way  inside.  It 
would  seem,  indeed,  as  if  he  was  suddenly  imbued 
with  something  of  the  spirit  of  the  adventure.  But 
— he  did  not  fear  the  turnkey,  while  the  man  who 
clung  so  closely  beside  him  and  half  a  pace  to  the 
rear  inspired  him  with  constant  terror  lest  he  should 
do  some  act  which  would  provoke  Bingham  Har- 
vard's wrath. 

Katherine's  cell  was  the  largest  and  best  one  in 
the  woman's  part  of  the  prison.  A  screen  had  been 
pulled  down  over  the  barred  doorway,  but,  never- 
theless, Katherine  had  removed  none  of  her  cloth- 
ing. Nor  was  she  asleep — which  is  not  strange, 
under  the  circumstances. 

"Two  gents  to  see  you,  Kate,"  the  turnkey  an- 
nounced with  maddening  familiarity.  Harvard 
could  have  choked  him  then — as  he  meant  to  do 
presently. 

"Unlock  that  door  and  let  her  step  outside,"  he 
commanded,  speaking  for  the  first  time  and  care- 
less now  whether  the  turnkey  should  recognize  him 
or  not.  But  he  did  want  Katherine  to  hear  his 
voice,  and  so  to  be  prepared  for  what  should  fol- 
low. 

He  heard  her  gasp  when  he  did  speak.  Then 
she  came  forward  quickly  and  grasped  the  bars  of 


136     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

the  heavy  door  as  she  peered  out  at  them.  Her 
astonishment  then  was  profound. 

"Why,  Mr.  Chester "  she  exclaimed,  and 

stopped,  fearful  lest  she  should  say  too  much. 

The  turnkey  had  paid  no  attention  to  Harvard's 
order.  Instead,  he  was  studying  the  Night  Wind's 
face,  as  if  it  were  faintly  suggestive  of  something 
that  he  ought  to  remember ;  and  Harvard  repeated : 

"Unlock  the  door,  turnkey." 

"Who  told  you  to  give  orders  in  this  place,  mis- 
ter?" the  turnkey  demanded  with  a  leer.  "I  guess 
you  can  talk  through  them  bars  all  right,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Rushton  didn't  say  nothin'  about  unlockin' 
no  doors.  You'll  have  to  do  your " 

His  speech  ended  in  a  gasp  and  a  gurgle. 

Harvard's  left  hand  had  seized  him  by  the  throat 
and  effectually  shut  off  further  utterance.  Har- 
vard's right  hand  forced  a  towel  between  his 
jaws  as  they  fell  open  because  of  the  choking  he 
was  receiving;  and  one  of  Harvard's  feet  tripped 
him,  and  he  was  forced  backward  and  down  upon 
the  flagged  flooring,  with  one  of  Harvard's  knees 
upon  his  chest  and  with  that  merciless  hand  still 
clutching  at  his  throat. 

He  struggled  mightily,  of  course,  flaying  with 
his  arms,  and  kicking  out  with  his  legs  and  feet; 
and  he  made  ineffectual  guttural  noises  as  he  at- 
tempted to  cry  out  for  help. 


INTO  JAIL— AND  OUT  137 

But  the  struggles  soon  became  spasmodic  and 
almost  ceased. 

He  was  very  nearly  unconscious  before  Harvard 
was  able  to  make  use  of  both  hands  to  knot  the 
twisted  towel  behind  the  turnkey's  head,  thus  mak- 
ing the  gag  effectual;  and  after  that  it  required 
only  a  moment  to  use  the  cord,  and  to  bind  his 
ankles  together  and  to  tie  his  wrists  behind  his 
back. 

The  turnkey's  keys  had  been  in  his  grasp  when 
he  was  attacked.  Harvard  picked  them  up  where 
they  had  fallen  to  the  floor  and  then  turned  his 
eyes  for  an  instant  upon  the  banker. 

Chester  was  shaking  as  if  with  a  palsy.  His 
teeth  were  chattering  and  he  was  mumbling  inco- 
herently : 

"Don't  kill  him,  Bingham!  For  God's  sake, 
don't  kill  him!" 

"Shut  up!"  Harvard  ordered  peremptorily. 

Then  he  sprang  to  the  cell  door,  unlocked  it,  and 
threw  it  open,  and  in  another  instant  Lady  Kate  was 
in  his  arms. 

But  not  for  long. 

He  held  her  so  for  a  moment,  then  thrust  her 
aside  and  turned  his  attention  to  the  work  in  hand ; 
and  in  regard  to  that,  also,  he  had  decided  while  on 
the  way  over  exactly  what  he  would  do. 

He  lifted  the  burly  form  of  the  turnkey  from  the 
floor  and  bore  him  inside  of  the  cell,  dropping  him 


138      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

upon  the  cot  that  was  there;  and  then  he  turned 
and  spoke  sharply  to  the  banker. 

"Come  here,  Chester,"  he  said;  and  the  banker 
passed  inside  of  the  cell. 

No  sooner  had  he  entered  it  than  Harvard 
stepped  quickly  outside,  closing  the  door  after  him 
and  locking  it;  and  while  that  was  being  done, 
Chester  looked  on  dumbly  and  apparently  without 
understanding  of  the  fact  that  it  was  Harvard's 
intention  to  leave  him  there. 

But  Katherine  understood,  and  she  put  one  hand 
upon  her  husband's  arm  in  protest. 

"Is  it  necessary,  Bingham?"  she  asked  softly. 

"Yes,"  he  replied  shortly.  "It  will  be  a  lesson 
to  him.  He  will  find  out  something  of  what  it 
means  to  an  innocent  man  to  be  locked  in  a  cell ; 
and  he  will  have  time  to  do  some  real  thinking 
under  circumstances  that  may  lead  him  to  think 
straight." 

Then  he  turned  to  Chester  and  spoke  to  him 
through  the  bars. 

"I  am  going  to  leave  you  here,  Mr.  Chester,"  he 
said  calmly.  "I  do  it  because  I  believe  it  will  be 
good  for  you.  You  won't  be  locked  up  more  than 
two  or  three  hours,  at  the  most.  Somebody  will 
be  here  by  that  time.  And  I  don't  think  they  will 
dare  to  do  anything  to  you  for  assisting  in  the  es- 
cape of  a  prisoner — because  I  believe  that  as  yet 
there  has  been  no  official  record  made  of  that 


7ATTQ  JAIL— AND  OUT 139 

prisoner.  And,  anyhow,  it  will  be  best  for  you  to 
be  found  here.  You  can  lay  it  all  to  me — to  the 
Night  Wind,"  he  added  coldly. 

"Oh,  Bingham !    Please " 

But  Harvard  had  already  grasped  Katherine  by 
the  arm  and  was  leading  her  away  along  the  cor- 
ridor; and  because  Katherine's  cell  had  been  lo- 
cated in  an  isolated  part  of  the  women's  section 
of  the  prison,  as  well  as  on  account  of  the  quiet 
with  which  the  Night  Wind  had  accomplished  the 
coup,  they  passed  outside  of  the  jail  without  any 
sort  of  an  alarm  being  given,  unlocking  and  relock- 
ing  the  several  doors  they  were  obliged  to  pass  with 
the  guard's  keys. 

Harvard  dropped  them  upon  the  steps  outside  the 
building  and  led  his  wife  to  the  waiting  limousine. 

"Mr.  Chester  will  remain  here  for  several  hours," 
he  told  the  chauffeur,  who  was  new  in  the  employ 
of  the  banker,  and  therefore  did  not  know  Bing- 
liam  Harvard.  "You  are  to  drive  us  directly  to 
New  York.  When  you  have  crossed  the  bridge  I 
will  direct  you  where  to  go." 

Inside  the  security  of  the  closed  car  Katherine 
threw  herself  into  Bing  Harvard's  arms  and  wept 
— for  the  first  time  since  the  indignity  of  the  arrest, 
with  its  false  charge,  was  put  upon  her.  But  she 
recovered  very  soon  and  raised  a  pair  of  smiling 
eyes  to  her  husband's  face. 

"How  did  you  do  it?"  she  asked  earnestly. 


140      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Oh,  Chester  and  I  just  did  it;  that's  all,  dear," 
he  replied.  "The  old  gentleman  was  almost  in  a 
state  of  collapse  from  abject  terror  all  the  time  he 
was  with  me.  I  think  he  was  actually  relieved  to 
be  left  in  that  cell — only  I  don't  think  he  will  en- 
joy his  company  if  he  should  venture  to  remove  that 
turnkey's  gag  and  bonds";  and  Harvard  chuckled. 
He  was  happier  at  that  moment  than  he  had  been 
in  a  long  time. 

"Did  you  ride  over  here  together?"  she  asked. 
"And  did  you  try  to  reason  with  him,  to  convince 
him  that  you  are  innocent?  He  would  listen  to 
you  and  believe  you,  would  he  not,  dear?" 

"No,  girlie.  We  came  over  together,  of  course, 
but  the  ride  was  taken  in  utter  silence.  Chester 
was  too  frightened  to  talk,  and  I  wanted  to  think. 
And  I  knew  how  utterly  useless  it  would  be  to  rea- 
son with  him." 

It  was  very  nearly  daylight  by  the  time  they 
had  crossed  Queensboro  Bridge,  where  they  were 
confronted  by  the  problem  of  where  they  should  go 
for  concealment  during  the  day. 

Harvard  told  Katherine  of  the  retreat  on  top  of 
the  warehouse,  to  which  he  held  the  key,  and  sug- 
gested that  they  might  go  there,  but  she  shook  her 
head  with  emphasis. 

"No,  dear,"  she  said;  "and  we  must  part  here. 
We  must  not  be  together,  and  you  must  not  know 
where  to  find  me — for  I  know  that  if  you  could  do 


INTO  JAIL— AND  OUT  141 

that  you  would  not  remain  away;  and  we  would 
both  be  in  constant  danger.  Remember,  you  prom- 
ised me  that,  Bingham." 

"Yes.     I  know." 

"And  now  we  are  both  outlaws  for  the  time  be- 
ing. And  I  have  my  plans,  which  I  am  determined 
to  carry  out  to  the  end.  Besides,  I  have  a  safe  re- 
treat to  go  to.  And  I  will  find  Julius  there,  await- 
ing me,  I  know.  Oh,  Bingham,  isn't  it  wonderful 
that  you  got  me  out  of  that  terrible  place  so 
quickly?  Tell  the  man  to  drive  us  to  Columbus 
Circle.  I  will  get  down  there  and  take  a  car.  And 
you " 

"I'll  get  down,  too,  and  put  you  on  the  car. 
Then- 

"No;  you  must  not." 

" and  then  I  will  go  to  that  warehouse  over 

on  the  East  Side." 

"Please,  Bingham,  let  me  get  down  alone.  See ; 
I  have  a  veil  to  cover  my  face,  and  it  is  almost  light 
now.  I  will  be  perfectly  safe.  And  you  have  the 
man  drive  you  to  a  place  somewhere  near  that 
warehouse." 

There  was  no  resisting  her  when  she  pleaded 
with  him  like  that.  With  all  his  great  strength  of 
muscle  and  will,  Bingham  Harvard  was  as  putty 
in  the  hands  of  Lady  Kate. 


CHAPTER   XV 

FRIENDS    IN    NEED 

The  Night  Wind  made  use  of  Chester's  car  to 
take  him  only  a  part  of  the  distance  to  his  desti- 
nation, and  when  he  dismissed  it  he  told  the  chauf- 
feur: 

"You  may  drive  back  now  to  that  jail  in  Queens. 
Wait  in  front  of  the  door  until  Mr.  Chester  comes 
out.  That  is  all." 

He  watched  it  until  it  disappeared  around  a 
corner,  then  turned  abruptly  to  hasten  to  the  safe 
refuge  for  the  day  on  the  roof  of  the  old  ware- 
house, and  in  turning  came  face  to  face  with  a 
man  between  whom  and  himself  the  recognition  was 
mutual  and  instant. 

"Harvard,  by  thunder!"  the  other  man  ex- 
claimed. 

"Hello,  Mordaunt !"  Bing  greeted,  and  stopped 
in  his  tracks. 

Of  two  men  whom  he  had  determined  to  see  at 
the  earliest  possible  moment  this  man  was  one — 

142 


FRIENDS  IN  NEED  143 

Benton  Mordaunt;  one  of  the  assistant  paying- 
tellers  who  had  been  inside  the  cage  with  him  that 
day  when  the  money  had  so  mysteriously  disap- 
peared. They  had  discussed  the  subject  of  the  lost 
packages  of  bills  many  times  immediately  after  the 
incident  occurred,  but  they  had  never  seen  each 
other  since  the  framed-up  charge  was  made  against 
Bingham  Harvard. 

"By  Jove,  I'm  glad  to  see  you,  Bing!"  Mordaunt 
said  with  genuine  feeling,  reaching  out  his  hand, 
which  Harvard  did  not  hesitate  to  accept.  "Say, 
you're  a  crackajack,  all  right!  You  didn't  do  a 
thing  to  that  bunch  of  cops  that  was  trying  to  run 
you  in,  did  you?  But  isn't  it  a  little  risky  for  you 
to  be  gallivanting  around  town  like  this?" 

"I  suppose  so,  Ben/'  Harvard  smiled.  "The 
fact  is  I  was  just  hunting  cover." 

"Then  come  around  to  the  house  with  me.  I've 
moved  since  I  saw  you;  thought  I'd  like  it  better 
farther  down  town.  The  wife  will  be  tickled  to 
death  to  see  you,  Bing.  You  know  neither  of  us 
ever  took  any  stock  in  all  that  rot  about  your  taking 
that  cash.  I  live  just  around  the  next  corner;  and 
you're  just  in  time  for  breakfast.  Come  along." 

Harvard  hesitated,  then  accepted  the  invitation, 
and  the  two  started  off  together,  side  by  side. 

"What  got  you  out  of  bed  so  early?"  he  asked 
Mordaunt. 

"Oh,  I  have  formed  the  habit  of  turning  out  for 


144.      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

a  long  walk  before  breakfast.  It  is  good  for  me, 
too.  I  get  through  the  day  a  heap  better  since  I 
began  it." 

"Who  is  teller,  now,  Ben — you  or  Atkinson? 
Which  one  of  you  took  my  place  ?" 

"Atkinson.  I  kind-a  thought  I'd  land  it,  but  he 
got  around  the  old  man  somehow,  and  so  pulled  it 
off." 

"Ben,  who  got  those  packages  of  bills?  Who 
stole  that  money?" 

"Search  me,  Bing.  To  me  it  is  just  as  great  a 
mystery  as  ever.  There  is  only  just  one  thing  about 
that  whole  business  that  I'm  certain  about,  and 
there  are  a  lot  more  down  at  the  bank  just  like  me." 

"What  is  that?" 

"That  Bingham  Harvard  did  not  do  it." 

"Do  you  mean  that,  Ben?  And  do  some  of  the 
others  agree  with  you  in  that  opinion  ?" 

"Some  of  them!  There  aren't  half  a  dozen  em- 
ployees in  the  whole  place,  counting  old  Chet  him- 
self, who  have  ever  thought  for  a  moment  that  you 
were  guilty.  It  is  a  sore  subject  with  most  of  them, 
too.  It  isn't  safe  to  suggest  to  any  of  them  that 
you  did  it" 

"Ben,  that  is  the  best  news  I  have  heard  in  a  long 
time.  Is  this  your  home?" 

"Yes.  Come  along  inside.  Cora  will  be  just  as 
glad  to  see  you  as  I  am;  you  can  bank  on  that." 


FRIENDS  IN  NEED  145 

"Wait  just  a  moment  here  at  the  bottom  of  the 
steps.  I  want  to  ask  two  or  three  questions  first." 

"Go  ahead,  then." 

"Who  are  the  fellows  down  there  who  believe  me 
guilty?  Is  Jim  Atkinson  one  of  them?" 

"Well — er — he  scry.?  he  isn't.  He  swears  that  he 
doesn't  believe  you  did  the  act,  but  I  think  he  is 
willing  to  be  convinced  that  you  did.  Honestly,  at 
heart,  I  believe  he  does  think  so." 

Harvard  nodded.  "Who  are  the  others?"  he 
asked. 

"Well,  the  big  watchman  outside  the  screens 
doesn't  make  any  bones  of  laying  it  to  you.  I'd 
a  punched  his  jaw  for  him  one  day  if  he  wasn't  so 
infernally  big,  and  if  I  hadn't  known  that  I'd  lose 
my  job  if  I  did  do  it." 

"Don't  punch  anybody's  jaw  on  my  account, 
Ben,"  Harvard  said,  smiling.  "Tell  me  the  names 
of  the  others  who  believe  that  I  am  the  guilty  man." 

"Oh,  what's  the  use  ?  They  don't  admit  it  openly ; 
the  sentiment  there  is  too  strong  in  your  favor  for 
that.  They  only  look  it,  and  think  it;  but  it's  easy 
enough  to  read  them." 

"Of  course.  Who  are  they?  I  want  to  know; 
and  I  have  got  a  good  reason  for  wanting  to  know." 

"I  won't  tell  you  another  word  until  you  are  in- 
side the  house,  Bing.  Look  yonder,  up  the  street. 
There  is  a  cop  coming  this  way  now.  If  he  should 


146      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

happen  to  spot  you — -well,  we'd  both  be  in  trouble, 
I  reckon.  Eh?" 

He  ran  up  the  steps,  and  Harvard  followed,  per- 
force ;  but  inside  the  vestibule  he  seized  his  friend's 
arm  before  the  latter  could  open  the  door;  and  he 
said: 

"I  had  forgotten  for  the  moment  the  risk  that 
you  run  in  taking  me  into  your  home,  old  fellow. 
It  won't  do,  you  know.  Chester  would  fire  you 
in  a  minute  if  he  ever  heard  of  it;  and  that  cop 
may  have  recognized  me  even  at  that  distance." 

"Tut,  tut,  and  piffle,  and  fudge,  Bing  Harvard!" 
Mordaunt  replied,  and  threw  the  door  ajar.  Then, 
as  soon  as  it  was  closed  again  he  called  loudly  for 
his  wife  to  come  down  quickly  and  find  out  whom 
he  had  brought  back  to  breakfast  with  him. 

"Those  names,  quick,  Ben!"  Harvard  insisted. 
"You  can  mention  them  before  your  wife  gets  here ; 
and  I  must  know  them,  provided  you  are  reasonably 
certain  that  you  are  right  concerning  their  atti- 
tude." 

"Lacey,  the  note-teller,  and  Powell,  Seixas,  and 
Quinn,  bookkeepers,"  Mordaunt  replied  rapidly. 
"Then  there  is  one  more.  He  is  non-committal, 
and  doesn't  say  much,  but  he  is  one  of  that  bunch 
if  I  am  any  judge.  That's  Lucius  Graff,  the  assist- 
ant receiving  teller.  Here  she  is.  Look,  Cora! 
See  who  I  have  brought  home  with  me?  Do  you 
know  him?" 


FRIENDS  IN  NEED  147 

"Why,  Bing-ham — Har-vard !  Oh !  I  am  so  glad 
to  see  you!  So  very  glad.  I  believe  I'm  going  to 
cry."  And,  indeed,  there  were  very  palpable  tears 
in  the  young  woman's  eyes. 

It  was,  in  fact,  as  much  as  Harvard  could  do  to 
keep  back  his  own  at  this  wholly  unexpected  sym- 
pathy and  confidence.  And  there  was  no  mistak- 
ing the  genuineness  of  it.  He  began  to  realize  that 
the  world  was  not  wholly  bad  and  mistrustful,  after 
all. 

Breakfast  tasted  particularly  good  to  Bingham 
Harvard  that  morning.  He  had  not  felt  quite  so 
normal  since  the  awful  cataclysm  had  so  shaken  the 
very  foundations  of  his  being. 

And  the  one  subject  under  consideration  through- 
out the  meal  was  the  lost  packages  of  bills  with  the 
theft  of  which  Harvard  had  been  charged. 

"Ben  and  I  have  thought  about  it  and  talked 
about  it  ever  since  it  happened,"  Mrs.  Mordaunt 
said  as  they  left  the  table.  "And  we  can't  agree 
about  it,  either ;  so,  whether  he  likes  it  or  not,  I  am 
going  to  tell  you  what  we  each  think — that  is,  if 
you  want  to  hear  our  opinions." 

"Certainly  I  do,  Mrs.  Mordaunt,"  Harvard  re- 
plied eagerly.  "And  for  some  reason  I  believe  that 
I  would  rather  have  your  judgment  of  the  matter 
than  Ben's." 

"Now,  look  here,  Cora,"  her  husband  started  to 


148     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

remonstrate;  but  she  made  a  funny  little  face  at 
him,  so  that  he  laughed  and  subsided. 

"Ben  thinks  that  Jim  Atkinson  could  tell  a  lot 
about  the  mystery  if  he  chose  to  do  so,"  she  went 
on,  speaking  with  great  seriousness.  "But  I  don't. 
From  what  little  I  have  seen  of  him  I  should  say 
he  is  more  fool  than  knave ;  but  maybe  I'm  wrong, 
at  that.  I  don't  mean  to  say  that  Ben  actually 
thinks  that  Atkinson  took  it,"  she  continued  hastily ; 
"but — well — it's  pretty  close  to  that,  when  all  is 
said." 

"What  is  your  own  opinion,  Mrs.  Mordaunt? 
Really,  I  would  like  to  hear  it." 

"I  haven't  got  a  decided  opinion;  only  a  general 
one." 

"All  the  better.  We  will  weed  it  out  by  the 
process  of  elimination." 

"Well,  there  are  a  number  of  the  employees  down 
at  the  bank  who  either  believe  that  you  are  guilty 
or  who  are  willing  to  believe  it.  If  7  was  a  detec- 
tive /  would  look  for  the  guilty  person  among  that 
lot.  And  it  wouldn't  surprise  me  if  every  one  of 
them  had  a  hand  in  it,  or  knows  something  about 
it  now.  The  idea  that  anybody  in  his  right  senses 
could  believe  that  you  were  the  guilty  man,  B ing- 
ham  Harvard !  That  very  fact  speaks  a  lot  against 
the  character  of  any  man  who  thought  it.  So, 
there!" 

"You  have  got  a  champion  in  Cora,  all  right, 


FRIENDS  IN  NEED  149 

Bing,"  Mordaunt  said,  laughing.  "What  do  you 
think  about  her  opinion — and  mine?" 

"I  don't  know,  Ben.  I  haven't  decided  yet.  But 
they  have  offered  a  suggestion  which  I  shall  follow." 

"What  is  that?" 

"You  have  mentioned  five  names  to  me — of  em- 
ployees at  the  bank  who  are  satisfied  of  my  guilt; 
or,  at  least,  who  are  not  convinced  of  my  inno- 
cence." 

"Seven,  Bing,  if  you  include  Atkinson  and  the 
watchman — the  special  officer,  outside  the  screen." 

"Six,  then — Atkinson,  Lacey,  Powell,  Seixas, 
Quinn,  and  Graff.  Lon  Badger,  the  watch,  hardly 
counts.  He  never  goes  inside  of  the  screen,  and  he 
is  too  big  to  get  into  the  paying  teller's  cage  unless 
there  was  a  special  door  made  for  him." 

"All  the  same,  Bing,  he  is  the  most  outspoken  of 
the  whole  bunch." 

"That  is  because  he  is  merely  stupid  and  likes  to 
hear  himself  express  an  opinion.  Men  of  his  cali- 
ber don't  often  have  an  opportunity  to  express  one, 
you  know." 

"I  suppose  so.  But  what  is  that  suggestion  you 
spoke  about?" 

"This — I  am  going  to  seek  an  interview  with  each 
and  every  one  of  them,  from  Atkinson,  all  the  way 
down  the  list.  I  am  going  to  talk  with  each  one, 
straight  from  the  shoulder,  and  form  my  own  judg- 
ment about  them,  one  by  one." 


150      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Look  here,  Bing.  Have  you  thought  about  the 
risk  you  will  run  in  doing  that?" 

"No ;  and  I  shall  not  think  about  it.  I  will  merely 
do  it." 

"There  isn't  one  in  the  whole  bunch  who  wouldn't 
give  you  dead  away  in  a  holy  minute  if  you  gave 
him  half  a  chance." 

"I  know  that,  and  I  shall  be  prepared  for  it — 
and  govern  myself  accordingly.  And  now,  Mrs. 
Mordaunt,  I  must  be  going.  I  have  remained  too 
long  as  it  is.  As  a  matter  of  fact  I  really  should 
not  have  consented  to  come  here  at  all.  It  was 
putting  you  both  to  needless  risk.  But — the  tempta- 
tion was  great.  I  haven't  many  friends  now." 

"More  than  you  think,  Mr.  Harvard,"  she  re- 
plied. "And  you  must  not  leave  the  house  in  the 
daytime.  You  will  be  seen  and  recognized.  Make 
yourself  comfortable  here,  for  the  day;  and  to- 
night, when  it  is  dark —  My  goodness,  who  do 
you  suppose  that  is,  Ben?" 

The  front  door  bell  had  been  rung  sharply  three 
times.  Mordaunt  leaped  to  his  feet  before  his  wife's 
question  was  fairly  out. 

"I'll  soon  know,"  he  announced;  and  then,  as  he 
left  the  room,  he  added,  for  Harvard's  informa- 
tion: "I've  got  an  arrangement  of  mirrors  in  the 
window  on  the  second  floor  which  enables  me  to 
see  who  is  at  the  door  when  the  bell  rings." 

He  was  gone  only  two  or  three  moments,  and 


FRIENDS  IN  NEED  151 

returned  down  the  stairs,  taking  two  steps  at  a 
time,  so  great  was  his  haste,  for  the  doorbell  had 
been  rung  twice  more  while  he  was  gone. 

"Bing!"  he  exclaimed  excitedly,  "there  are  two 
cops  in  uniform  on  the  front  steps,  and  there  is  an- 
other chap  with  them  who  looks  as  if  he  might  be 
a  detective  in  plain  clothes.  What  do  you  know 
about  that?  What  shall  we  do?  Eh?  Cora,  you 
suggest  something,  can't  you?  I'll  bet  a  hundred 
to  one  that  the  cop  we  saw  on  the  street  knew  you. 
Or — say  ?  I  know  what's  done  it.  I  have  been  fol- 
lowed everywhere  I  have  gone  lately,  and  I  plumb 
forgot  all  about  it  when  I  met  you.  Cora,  why  in 
the  world  don't  you  suggest  something?  It  looks 
to  me  as  if  Bing  is  up  against  it,  just  about  now!" 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE    NIGHT   WIND'S   INCREDIBLE   SWIFTNESS 

The  Night  Wind's  decision  was  instantly  taken. 

Whatever  might  happen  he  could  not  sacrifice 
his  friends.  They  should  be  protected,  at  all  haz- 
ards, and  he  thought  he  saw  a  way  to  accomplish  it. 

They  were  in  that  room,  which  in  an  ordinary 
city  house  of  the  old  style  is  called  the  "back  par- 
lor," and  there  was  a  large  closet,  the  door  of  which 
was  standing  partly  ajar.  Harvard  could  see  that 
the  closet  was  spacious  and  roorny.  Moreover,  the 
key  was  in  the  lock  of  the  door. 

"Quick!"  he  said.  "Get  inside  of  that  closet- 
both  of  you" ;  and  he  seized  upon  them,  each  by  an 
arm,  and  forced  them  through  the  doorway  which 
he  kicked  wider  with  one  swing  of  his  foot — and 
he  accomplished  it  before  either  of  them  had  the 
least  idea  of  his  intention.  "I'm  going  to  lock  you 
both  in  there,"  he  added.  "The  cops  will  let  you 
out,  if  you  pound  loud  enough.  It's  up  to  you  to 
make  them  think  that  you  tried  to  send  a  telephone 

message  to  betray  me." 

152 


NIGHT  WIND'S  SWIFTNESS          153 

Then  he  closed  the  door  with  a  bang  and  turned 
the  key. 

The  telephone  was  fastened  against  the  wall  be- 
side the  door,  and  he  seized  upon  it  and  tore  it  from 
its  fastenings. 

Surely,  he  thought,  with  all  that  evidence,  the 
police  could  not  but  be  of  the  opinion  that  the  Night 
Wind  had  discovered  that  he  was  being  betrayed 
and  had  acted  with  his  customary  whirlwind  en- 
ergy. 

The  doorbell  was  still  pealing  its  summonses,  and 
more  insistently  than  ever,  and  without  hesitation 
he  hurried  through  the  hall  toward  it. 

"There  are  three  of  them  out  there,"  was  his 
thought.  "Surely  I  must  be  able  to  get  past  them. 
The  only  trouble  is  that  I  will  probably  have  to 
hurt  somebody." 

The  men  outside  were  adding  loud  rappings  to 
their  bell  ringing  by  that  time,  and  Harvard  had 
not  a  doubt  that  in  another  moment  one  of  them 
would  thrust  his  stick  through  the  glass  of  the  door, 
so  that  he  might  reach  inside  and  open  it. 

But  he  did  not  give  them  an  opportunity  to  do 
that.  Instead,  he  seized  the  knob  of  the  door  and 
opened  it  with  a  jerk,  stepping  nimbly  aside  behind 
the  other  half  of  the  door  as  he  did  so. 

One  of  the  men  rushed  inside,  and  Harvard 
thrust  out  a  foot  and  tripped  him,  so  that  he  plunged 
headlong  to  the  floor,  half  the  length  of  the  hall. 


154     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

The  second  man — the  one  in  plain  clothes — was 
close  behind  the  first,  but  the  fate  of  his  companion 
made  him  pull  himself  up  when  he  was  just  in  the 
act  of  crossing  the  threshold. 

But  Harvard's  right  hand  shot  out  and  seized 
the  detective  by  the  collar,  and  a  mighty  jerk  for- 
ward, given  with  a  whirling  motion,  sent  him 
sprawling  after  the  first  one  who  was  already  at- 
tempting to  get  upon  his  feet.  They  collided  and 
went  to  the  floor  together,  and  very  much  mixed  as 
to  just  how  it  happened. 

The  third  man — another  in  uniform — was  just 
inside  the  vestibule. 

He  was  in  the  act  of  rushing  forward  also,  but 
managed  to  catch  himself  in  time ;  and  he  attempted 
to  reach  for  his  police  whistle  and  his  revolver  at 
the  same  time.  He  had  found  the  former  and  was 
lifting  it  toward  his  lips  when  the  Night  Wind  seized 
him,  pulled  him  through  the  doorway,  and  then 
actually  lifted  him  off  of  his  feet  and  threw  him 
bodily  at  the  other  two,  who  were  rapidly  getting  up 
again. 

Harvard  did  not  wait  to  see  what  came  of  that 
effort. 

He  sprang  outside  and  pulled  the  door  shut  after 
him,  and  put  one  hand  upon  the  iron  balustrade  to 
vault  it  into  the  areaway,  well  knowing  that  bullets 
would  now  be  sent  whizzing  after  him,  since  there 


NIGHT  WIND'S  SWIFTNESS          155 

was  no  longer  any  danger  of  the  policemen  shoot- 
ing one  of  their  own  number. 

There  was  the  sound  of  a  shot  from  inside  the 
house,  followed  by  the  tinkle  of  breaking  glass  just 
as  he  grasped  the  iron  rail  over  the  steps;  and  at 
the  same  instant  a  woman,  evidently  a  servant, 
rushed  out  upon  the  front  steps  from  the  house 
adjoining. 

There  were  brownstone  ledges  before  the  parlor 
windows  of  that  next  house,  and,  instead  of  jump- 
ing into  the  area,  Harvard  sprang  upon  one  of  them, 
and  from  that  to  the  next  one,  and  then  over  the 
rail  to  the  top  of  the  steps  where  the  servant  girl 
had  come  to  a  halt,  paralyzed  with  fright — for  two 
more  shots  followed  the  first  one,  even  while  the 
Night  Wind  crossed  over  the  two  ledges  to  the 
steps  of  the  adjoining  house. 

"I  am  not  going  to  harm  you,"  he  said  as  he 
grasped  her  by  both  of  her  arms  and  forced  her 
back  again  through  the  open  doorway  through 
which  she  had  appeared;  and  he  added,  by  way  of 
warning :  "Unless  you  make  a  noise." 

He  closed  the  door  and  waited,  still  retaining  his 
hold  upon  the  girl. 

Just  what  happened  outside  after  that  he  could 
only  conjecture,  but  this  is  what  actually  occurred: 

The  two  policemen  and  the  plain  clothes  man  fol- 
lowed their  bullets  into  the  street  with  all  the  speed 
they  could  summon. 


156     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

They  dashed  from  the  house  and  down  the  steps, 
glancing  up  and  down  the  street  as  they  did  so  in  a 
vain  search  for  a  sign  of  the  fugitive.  But  the 
street  was  deserted,  save  for  a  few  who  had  heard 
the  shots  and  had  rushed  to  their  doors  or  windows 
to  discover  what  was  happening — and  the  Night 
Wind  had  moved  so  quickly,  and  so  soon  after  the 
sound  of  the  first  shot,  that  not  one  of  these  had 
seen  him  cross  over  the  window  ledges  and  enter 
the  house  adjoining. 

The  street  corner  was  quite  near. 

It  seemed  impossible  to  the  policemen  that  the 
Night  Wind  could  have  reached  it  in  that  short  in- 
terval, but  nevertheless  there  was  no  other  way  to 
account  for  his  complete  disappearance;  and  they 
ran  to  it  and  looked  e^ach  way  along  the  avenue, 
and  questioned  persons  who  were  near  enough  to 
be  questioned.  But  not  a  soul  had  seen  a  sign  of 
any  man  running  away. 

They  looked  into  each  other's  faces  then  rather 
sheepishly.  One  of  them  felt  of  himself  tenta- 
tively, as  if  to  be  assured  that  none  of  his  bones 
was  broken.  Then  they  shook  their  heads  and  re- 
turned to  the  house  where  Benton  Mordaunt  made 
his  home. 

Once  inside  of  it,  they  went  through  the  hall  into 
the  back  parlor — and  discovered  the  wrecked  tele- 
phone; and  then,  from  behind  the  closet  door  be- 
side it  they  heard  the  voices  of  a  man  and  a  woman 


NIGHT  WIND'S  SWIFTNESS          157 

calling  for  help,  and  pounding  and  kicking  against 
the  door. 

The  key  was  in  the  lock,  and  one  of  the  cops 
turned  it  and  released  the  two  prisoners — and  Mor- 
daunt  and  his  wife  came  forth  in  a  pitiable  plight; 
considering  how  immaculately  and  carefully  both 
had  been  attired  when  Harvard  thrust  them  so 
gently  inside  of  their  temporary  prison. 

Mordaunt's  collar  had  been  literally  torn  away 
from  his  neck,  his  hair  was  rumpled  and  disheveled 
(he  had  done  it  all  himself,  of  course,  during  those 
few  moments  of  waiting — as  he  had  also  performed 
much  the  same  service  for  his  wife)  ;  Mrs.  Mor- 
daunt's abundant  hair  was  down  her  back,  and  she 
managed  to  assume  a  countenance  that  was  thor- 
oughly terrorized. 

"What  happened  here,  Mordaunt?"  the  plain 
clothes  man  demanded.  "You  may  as  well  tell  the 
truth  now,  'cause  I  know  part  of  it  already.  I've 
been  trailing  you  for  some  time,  and  I  suspected 
that  that  guy  was  the  Night  Wind  when  I  saw  you 
stop  and  shake  hands  with  him.  I  wasn't  sure — 
then.  But  I  took  a  chance,  and  pulled  these  two 
officers  along  with  me  to  make  sure.  Now,  what 
happened?  Give  it  to  me  straight." 

"I  should  think  you  could  tell  what  has  happened 
without  my  explaining,"  Mordaunt  retorted  with 
assumed  anger.  "I  guess  it  was  pretty  near  to  being 


158     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

the  same  thing  that  happened  to  you  fellows,  to 
judge  by  the  looks  of  you." 

"Cut  out  the  flourishes,  Mordaunt.  I  want  to 
know  why  you  brought  that  human  cyclone  home 
with  you  the  way  you  did." 

"Maybe  that  will  answer  your  question,"  Mor- 
daunt replied,  pointing  at  the  wrecked  telephone. 
"When  I  left  him  down  in  the  basement  with  my 
wife  and  came  up  here  to  try  to  use  the  telephone 

to  get  headquarters Aw,  what's  the  use  ?  Can't 

you  see  what  happened?  Doesn't  the  condition  of 
that  telephone  tell  you ?  Look  at  me!  Look  at  my 
wife.  What  happened?  I've  been  in  an  earth- 
quake and  a  house  fell  on  me;  that's  what  hap- 
pened. Say,  why  didn't  you  fellows  get  him?  You 
were  three  to  one — and  he  had  to  get  past  you, 
didn't  he?" 

Then  it  was  that  Mrs.  Mordaunt  staggered, 
caught  hold  of  a  chair  back,  and  called  faintly  for 
water.  It  was  quite  evident  to  her  that  the  ruse 
had  worked,  and  she  thought  it  best  to  cap  the 
climax  with  a  partial  fainting  spell. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Night  Wind  was  still  stand- 
ing just  inside  the  closed  door  of  the  adjoining 
house,  retaining  his  hold  upon  the  servant  girl's 
arm.  But  he  questioned  her  in  a  kindly  voice — 
and  Bingham  Harvard  could  be  extremely  gentle 
and  persuasive  when  he  chose  to  exert  himself  to 
that  end. 


NIGHT  WIND'S  SWIFTNESS          159 

"You  must  not  be  frightened,  really,"  he  told  her 
reassuringly.  "I  wouldn't  harm  you  for  the  world ; 
and  I  am  not  a  robber,  nor  a  thief,  nor  a  bad  man 
at  all.  Look  up  at  me.  Do  I  look  like  a  desperate 
character  ?" 

"N-no,  sir,"  she  replied  falteringly. 

"Those  men  were  after  me  because  they  thought 
I  had  done  something  that  I  did  not  do  at  all.  You 
have  heard  of  such  things,  haven't  you?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Well,  that  is  the  case  now.  I  only  want  to  stand 
here  until  they  go  away,  and  then  I  will  go,  too; 
and — let  me  see — here  is  a  five-dollar  bill  for  you, 
for  letting  me  do  it.  Now  shall  we  be  good 
friends?" 

"Please,  sir.  Yes,  sir ;  and  thank  you  very  much. 
I  don't  believe  you  are  bad.  You  don't  look  bad 
at  all.  But,  you  see,  sir,  I  was  all  alone  in  the 
house.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tucker  went  away  at  day- 
light this  morning  to  Trenton  to  see  their  son,  who 
is  sick;  and  I  got  awfully  scared  when  I  kept  hear- 
ing that  bell  ringing  next  door  the  way  it  did.  And 
then  when  they  began  to  pound  and  kick  against 
the  door,  as  well  as  ring,  I  couldn't  stand  it  any 
longer,  so  I  rushed  out.  And  then  you  grabbed 
me,  and " 

"Yes,  yes.  I  understand,"  Harvard  interrupted 
her.  He  discovered  that  she  had  a  tongue,  after 
all.  "If  one  of  those  policemen  should  ring  the 


160      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

bell  at  this  house,  and  I  should  permit  you  to  go 
to  the  door  to  answer  it,  what  would  you  say  to 
him  if  he  asked  you  if  you  had  seen  me?" 

"I'd  tell  him  that  I  don't  know  anything  at  all 
about  you ;  and  no  more  I  do — except  that  I'd  take 
my  oath  that  you're  a  gentleman/' 

"Well,  I  like  your  face,  too,  and  I  am  going  to 
prove  it  by  trusting  you.  I  want  you  to  go  outside 
and  stand  on  the  steps  so  you  can  tell  me  when 
those  men  go  away  from  the  next  house.  And 
leave  the  door  open,  so  I  can  see  you  all  the  time. 
I  don't  think  they  will  ask  you  any  questions  when 
they  see  you  standing  there,  with  the  door  open 
behind  you." 

And  so  it  proved  when,  a  little  later,  the  officers 
came  from  Mordaunt's  house.  The  Night  Wind  had 
made  another  of  his  miraculous  escapes,  due  to  his 
incredible  swiftness  of  motion  and  his  superhuman 
strength ;  and  they  were  thoroughly  crestfallen.  But 
they  knew  that  they  would  have  to  make  a  report  of 
it,  because  the  two  uniformed  men  had  been  called 
off  of  their  beats  by  the  plain  clothes  man;  one  of 
them  into  another  precinct,  the  boundary  being 
through  the  middle  of  the  avenue. 

An  hour  later  the  Night  Wind  opened  the  little 
door  through  the  greater  one  of  the  old  warehouse, 
and  stepped  inside  into  darkness  that  was  the  same 
as  night ;  and  he  was  quite  certain  that  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  approaching  it  unseen. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

RUSHTON   SHOWS    HIS    COLORS 

The  varied  sensations  experienced  by  Sterling 
Chester,  the  banker,  when  he  found  himself  locked 
inside  of  a  prison  cell  with  the  bound  and  gagged 
and  helpless  turnkey,  defy  description. 

Impotent  anger  and  outraged  dignity  partly  over- 
came the  terror  that  had  mastered  him  ever  since 
the  moment  when  he  discovered  the  Night  Wind 
standing  beside  his  bed — and  the  absence  of  that 
dreaded  individual  helped. 

Nevertheless  he  kept  perfectly  still  where  he  was 
standing,  until  he  felt  assured  that  Harvard  and 
his  wife  had  left  the  jail;  and  then,  slowly,  he 
turned  his  gaze  upon  the  prostrate  figure  on  the 
cot. 

He  started  guiltily  and  nervously. 

The  eyes  of  the  turnkey  were  staring  up  at  him 
with  a  savage  glare,  while  behind  the  gag  the 
man  made  nonunderstandable  noises  in  his  throat, 
although  it  was  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  words 
that  those  noises  were  intended  to  convey. 

161 


162     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Chester  untied  the  towel  which  Harvard  had 
used  for  a  gag,  but  the  minute  it  was  removed  he 
started  backward  in  dismay,  for  in  all  his  unevent- 
ful life  Chester  had  never  before  heard  such  a  tor- 
rent of  words,  uttered  by  one  man,  as  poured  from 
the  mouth  of  that  thoroughly  enraged  but  still  help- 
less turnkey. 

It  had  been  Chester's  intention  to  release  the  man 
from  his  bonds  also ;  but,  in  the  face  of  the  threats 
that  were  hurled  at  him,  once  those  cords  should  be 
removed,  he  dared  not  do  it. 

Instead,  he  went  to  the  barred  door  and  shook 
it,  discovering  that  it  was  hopelessly  locked;  then 
he  returned  to  a  solitary  chair  which  the  cell  con- 
tained, and  sat  down  despondently. 

"Say,  you  blankety-blank-blank,  blankety-blank, 
ain't  you  going  to  cut  these  cords  and  let  me  loose  ?" 
the  turnkey  roared  at  him  then,  the  explosions  of 
his  wrath  having  spent  themselves. 

"I  was  intending  to  do  so,  of  course,"  Chester 
returned  helplessly,  "but  you  have  made  such  terri- 
ble threats  against  me  that  I  am  afraid  to.  We 
will  remain  as  we  are  until  somebody  comes." 

Then  the  turnkey  wheedled  and  begged,  and  he 
swore  and  threatened  again,  all  to  no  purpose. 
Chester  had  remembered  that  Lieutenant  Rushton 
was  due  to  arrive  at  the  jail  by  a  little  after  seven, 
and  he  had  irrevocably  decided  to  wait  for  that 


RUSHTON  SHOWS  HIS  COLORS       163 

moment,  unless  some  other  person  should  appear 
before  that. 

"What  I  won't  do  to  you  when  I  do  get  out  of 
this  fix  won't  be  worth  mentioning,"  the  turnkey 
swore  at  him  at  last,  and  lapsed  into  a  sullen  silence 
afterward ;  nor  did  he  utter  another  sound  until  the 
interruption  came. 

Rushton  had  had  no  intention  of  permitting  the 
banker  to  arrive  at  the  jail  ahead  of  him,  notwith- 
standing the  agreement  made  over  the  telephone; 
and  it  never  once  occurred  to  him  that  Chester 
would  seek  to  go  there  before  the  appointed  time; 
rather,  it  was  supposable  that  he  would  be  late. 

It  was  a  quarter  to  seven  when  Rushton  got  there, 
and  for  five  minutes  he  rang  the  bell  at  the  outer 
door  fruitlessly;  and  then  a  half-dressed  day-guard 
pulled  open  the  wicket  and  peered  out  at  him. 

He  knew  Rushton,  as  it  happened,  and  instantly 
opened  the  door;  and  they  both  asked  the  same 
question  at  once: 

"Where's  Mullen?"  they  demanded  of  each  other 
as  with  one  voice.  (Mullen  was,  of  course,  the 
turnkey,  at  that  moment  locked  in  a  cell  with  Ches- 
ter.) 

"I  thought  he  was  here,"  said  the  day-guard. 
"I  relieve  him  at  seven.  It's  most  that  now." 

"He  ought  to  be  here.  Where  is  he?  Has  any- 
body been  here  this  morning?" 


164.      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"How  do  I  know?  I'm  just  out  of  bed,  lieuten- 
ant" 

"There  is  something  wrong,"  Rushton  exclaimed. 
"Never  mind  Mullen.  Take  me  into  the  women's 
wing.  You've  got  keys,  haven't  you?" 

"Sure." 

The  man  was  in  the  act  of  turning  to  lead  the 
way  through  the  prison  when  he  chanced  to  glance 
again  through  the  open  doorway,  and  discovered 
something  lying  on  the  steps.  It  was  the  ring  of 
keys  that  the  Night  Wind  had  thrown  down  out- 
side the  door. 

Rushton  was  speechless.  He  sensed  rather  than 
understood  what  those  keys,  found  outside  the 
prison,  might  indicate ;  and  there  was  precious  little 
time  lost  after  that  in  traversing  the  corridors  and 
reaching  the  cell  wherein  Lady  Kate  had  been 
locked. 

The  spectacle  that  greeted  Rushton  when  he 
peered  through  the  bars  touched  his  sense  of  humor, 
notwithstanding  his  anger,  and  he  roared  with  de- 
risive laughter  while  he  unlocked  the  door,  threw 
it  open,  and  stepped  inside. 

Chester  attempted  at  once  to  explain,  and  had 
not  said  a  dozen  words  before  Rushton  thoroughly 
comprehended  what  had  happened,  and  rather  cor- 
rectly how  it  had  happened;  and  he  glared  down 
upon  poor  Chester  so  savagely  that  the  latter 
stopped  in  the  middle  of  his  explanation. 


RUSHTON  SHOWS  HIS  COLORS       165 

"So  you  put  one  over  onto  me,  did  you?"  Rush- 
ton  demanded  of  him.  "All  the  while  you  was 
givin'  me  that  guff  over  the  wire  the  Night  Wind 
was  settin'  right  there  beside  you  tellin'  you  what 
to  say,  and  you  didn't  have  sense  enough  or  sand 

enough  to  give  me  the  tip!  I  feel  like "  He 

stopped,  and  an  odd  gleam  came  into  his  eyes  as  he 
added  in  a  different  tone :  "I'll  talk  privately  with 
you  about  this  later,  Chester." 

Then  Rushton  turned  on  his  heels  and  cut  the 
cords  that  held  the  turnkey  captive. 

Mullen  leaped  to  his  feet  with  a  furious  expletive 
and  instantly  rushed  at  Chester,  who  had  risen  to 
his  feet  and  stood  beside  the  chair  where  he  had 
been  seated. 

There  was  no  doubt  regarding  Mullen's  inten- 
tion. The  banker  would  have  been  knocked  sense- 
less in  another  instant  if  a  smashing  blow  from 
Rushton's  fist,  delivered  behind  the  turnkey's  ear, 
had  not  prevented  it.  And  Rushton  was  known  as 
the  strongest  man  on  the  force. 

"None  of  that,  Mullen !"  he  growled  as  the  turn- 
key slowly  picked  himself  up,  for  he  dared  not 
fight  back  against  Rushton.  "I've  a  good  notion 
to  have  you  fired  for  what's  happened;  and  if  you 
ever  say  a  single  word  about  it  to  anybody,  I  will. 
It's  your  fault,  every  bit  of  it.  You  had  no  call  to 
let  anybody  but  Chester  into  the  jail.  Now,  what 


166     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

time  was  it  when  the  Night  Wind  was  here  and 
made  that  getaway?" 

"Maybe  about  four,  or  after  that.  I  don't  know. 
I  ain't  got  over  the  chokin'  he  gave  me  yet." 

"Served  you  right.  I  wish  he'd  finished  the  job 
while  he  was  at  it.  Come  on,  Chester." 

Chester  and  Rushton  passed  outside  of  the  jail 
together,  and  found  the  banker's  limousine  car 
awaiting  them  at  the  door.  It  had  arrived  shortly 
after  Rushton  went  inside. 

The  chauffeur,  being  questioned,  could  give  the 
lieutenant  almost  no  information  at  all,  as  we  know; 
so  the  two  entered  the  car,  and  Rushton  directed 
that  they  be  taken  directly  to  headquarters,  in  Man- 
hattan. 

"Say,  Chester,"  the  lieutenant  remarked,  as  if 
casually,  after  they  had  ridden  in  silence  for  some 
distance,  "I'm  needin'  a  couple  uh  thousand  mighty 
bad  in  my  business  just  about  now.  You  don't  hap- 
pen to  have  that  much  with  you  in  your  clothes, 
have  you?" 

"Why,  no,  lieutenant,"  the  banker  responded 
mildly.  "I  rarely  carry  money  about  with  me  in 
sums  of  more  than  a  few  dollars  at  a  time.  But  I 
can  accommodate  you,  of  course,  if  you  will  come 
around  to  the  bank  some  time  to-day.  What — er — 
what  security  have  you  to  offer  for  the  loan,  Mr. 
Rushton?" 

"Security!     Loan!     Say,  what  do  you  take  me 


RUSHTON  SHOWS  HIS  COLORS       167 

for,  anyhow?  Oh,  never  mind.  We'll  call  it  that, 
if  you  prefer.  But  the  'loan'  '11  be  a  gift;  take  it 
from  me,  Chester;  and  the  security  will  be  a  closed 
mouth.  And  I  want  the  two  thousand  to-day.  You 
ought  to  be  ticklin'  yourself  under  the  chin  that  I 
didn't  ask  for  five." 

"Really,  lieutenant,  I  cannot  see  why  you  should 
expect  me  to  give  you  that  amount  of  money,"  the 
banker  expostulated,  honestly  amazed  by  the  de- 
mand. 

"You  don't,  eh?  Say!  Haven't  you  got  any 
notion  at  all  what  you're  up  against,  and  what  I'm 
standin'  to  save  you  from?  Don't  you  know  what 
would  happen  to  you  if  I  should  make  a  holler 
about  what  happened  last  night  an'  this  mornin'?" 

"I  am  quite  sure  that  I  do  not  know  what  you 
are  talking  about,  lieutenant." 

"Well,  you  are  young  and  innocent  and  guileless. 
Ain't  you  helped  a  prisoner  to  escape?  Ain't  you 
laid  yourself  liable  to  the  law?  It  would  be  Sing 
Sing  prison  for  yours,  if  I  should  squeal  on  you. 
That's  what  would  happen  to  you." 

"Why,  lieutenant,  I  have  done  nothing — abso- 
lutely nothing  at  all." 

"Aw,  can  it,  Chester.  You're  up  against  it  now 
as  hard  as  the  Night  Wind  is  himself;  and  if  you 
don't  know  it,  take  it  from  me,  'cause  I'm  tellin'  it 
to  you;  see?  I've  got  you  where  I  want  you  now, 
and  you've  got  to  come  across — unless  you  want  to 


168     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

find  yourself  indicted  by  the  grand  jury,  and  stand- 
in'  trial  in  general  sessions.  That's  exactly  what'll 
happen  to  you  if  I  squeal.  Now,  do  I  get  that 
three  thousand,  or  don't  I?" 

"Why,  you  said  two  thousand  only  a  moment 
ago." 

"Did  I?  Well,  I'm  say  in'  four  now.  Do  I  get 
it?" 

"Really,  Rushton,  this  is  equivalent  to  blackmail," 
the  now  exasperated  banker  exclaimed.  "I  pro- 
test." 

"That  makes  it  five  thousand.  I  don't  like  to  be 
called  names,  Chester.  Why  do  you  suppose  I  told 
that  guy  of  yours  out  in  front  to  take  us  to  head- 
quarters, unless  I  intended  to  leave  you  there  in 
case  you  wouldn't  come  across?  Now,  which  is  it 
goin'  to  be?  Five  thousand  cash  for  me  or  a  cell 
at  police  headquarters  for  you?  What's  the  an- 
swer?" 

"I — I  suppose  I  must  submit,  if  what  you  say  is 
true,"  the  banker  replied  weakly. 

"You'll  find  out  that  it's  true,  all  right,  if  you 
go  to  askin'  questions.  It's  a  serious  job,  helpin' 
prisoners  to  escape,  'specially  when  they're  charged 
with  felonies.  We  had  Lady  Kate  where  we  wanted 
her,  an'  now  you've  up  and  set  her  free.  We'd 
have  got  the  Night  Wind  in  another  twenty-four 
hours  if  you  hadn't  interfered,  and  I  wouldn't  won- 
der if  that  couldn't  be  held  up  against  you,  too. 


RUSHTON  SHOWS  HIS  COLORS       169 

But  I  can  make  it  all  right  with  the  inspector. 
Fortunately  we  kept  the  fact  of  Lady  Kate's  arrest 
a  secret.  But  that  won't  help  you  none,  once  it 
leaks  out.  Five  thousand  is  cheap.  I'm  almost  in- 
clined  " 

"Lieutenant,  if  you  will  come  to  me  at  the  bank 
as  soon  as  it  opens  you  shall  have  it,"  said  the  now 
helpless  and  thoroughly  frightened  Chester. 

"That's  the  way  to  talk.  I'll  be  there.  Betcher 
life  on  that." 

"But — you  make  me  think,  lieutenant,  that " 

The  banker  hesitated. 

"Think  what,  Chester?  Go  on.  What  do  I 
make  you  think?"  Rushton  asked  with  a  coarse 
laugh. 

"I — I  really  don't  know,  lieutenant." 

"I  guess  you  don't.  I  guess  you're  right  about 
that.  Well,  you've  got  more  of  them  thinks  corn- 
in'  to  you." 

There  were  several  moments  of  silence  between 
them  after  that,  and  then : 

"Lieutenant,"  the  banker  asked  timidly,  "now 
that  there  appears  to  be  no  longer  any  necessity  for 
us  to  go  to  police  headquarters,  will  you  tell  Gus- 
tave  to  take  me  directly  to  my  home  ?  I  would  like 
to  go  there  before  I  go  to  the  bank.  He  may  drive 
you  down-town  afterward  if  you  wish  him  to  do 
so." 

"Sure,"  was  the  quick  reply.    "And  I  won't  need 


170      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Gustave;  and  I'll  meet  you  at  the  bank  at  ten,  to 
get  that  money.  That  is  understood,  isn't  it?" 

"Certainly.    Certainly." 

When,  somewhat  later,  the  banker  entered  his 
own  house  he  was  told  that  a  lady  and  gentleman 
were  waiting  in  the  library  to  see  him,  and,  having 
no  idea  who  it  might  be,  he  hurried  to  that  room. 

Lady  Kate  rose  to  receive  him  as  he  entered  it. 
Tom  Clancy  was  standing  near  one  of  the  windows, 
with  his  back  toward  them,  and  did  not  turn  around. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE  BANKER'S  DILEMMA 

When  Lady  Kate  confronted  Chester  so  unex- 
pectedly in  the  library  of  his  own  house,  and  he  dis- 
covered Tom  Clancy  standing  at  his  ease  and  much 
with  the  manner  of  a  man  who  was  perfectly  at 
home  in  that  room,  the  banker  was  so  overcome 
with  utter  amazement  that  he  could  not  speak. 

Incidents  had  fallen  so  swiftly  upon  him  since 
he  was  awakened  in  the  middle  of  the  night  by 
Bingham  Harvard,  and  one  disaster  after  another 
had  so  unnerved  him,  that  he  could  only  gasp  his 
astonishment,  clinging  with  heavy  hand  to  the  back 
of  the  nearest  chair  to  steady  his  tottering  phy- 
sique. 

"Pray  be  seated,  Mr.  Chester,"  Katherine  said, 
much  as  if  she  were  mistress  of  the  house  and  the 
banker  an  expected  guest.  "Mr.  Clancy  and  I  have 
been  awaiting  your  return,  feeling  certain  that  you 

would  come  here  before  you  went  to  the  bank." 

171 


172      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Dumbly  he  complied,  sinking  upon  the  chair  the 
back  of  which  he  had  already  grasped. 

Clancy  swung  himself  slowly  around,  came  for- 
ward to  the  table  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  threw 
one  leg  across  a  corner  of  it,  and,  with  a  counte- 
nance as  solemn  as  that  of  a  judge  who  is  about  to 
pronounce  sentence,  waited. 

Katherine's  expression  was  solemnity  itself,  too. 
The  banker  could  not  guess  that  these  two  had 
entirely  agreed  between  themselves  upon  the  course 
of  procedure  they  would  adopt  when  Chester  ar- 
rived and  discovered  them  awaiting  him. 

For  Lady  Kate,  when  she  parted  with  Harvard, 
earlier  that  morning,  had  gone  straight  to  a  tele- 
phone to  call  Tom  Clancy  from  his  bed,  and  to 
ask  him  to  meet  her  with  the  least  possible  delay. 
She  had  had  an  inspiration  during  that  early  ride 
across  Queensboro  Bridge,  beside  her  husband,  that 
morning,  and  she  lost  no  time  in  carrying  it  into 
effect  the  moment  it  was  possible  to  do  so;  and  it 
had  required  only  a  few  words  of  explanation  to 
Clancy  to  make  him  "catch  on  with  every  one  of 
his  ten  fingers,"  as  he  expressed  it. 

Lady  Kate  had  been  a  woman  detective  at  police 
headquarters  long  enough  to  understand  what  the 
possibb  consequences  might  be  to  a  person  who 
assisted  in  the  escape  of  an  important  prisoner. 
She  believed  that  she  had  at  last  discovered  a  lever- 
age by  which  the  banker  could  be  pried  out  of  his 


THE  BANKER'S  DILEMMA  173 

state  of  complacency,  and  when  she  explained  it  to 
Torn  he  thought  so,  too. 

So  they  went  together  to  Chester's  house  and 
waited,  for  both  were  certain  that  Chester  would 
not  be  detained  very  long  at  that  Queens  County 
jail. 

She  remained  silent  for  a  time,  also,  after  re- 
questing the  banker  to  be  seated.  He  gazed  fur- 
tively around  him,  peering  this  way  and  that,  half 
expectantly,  half  timorously. 

"Mr.  Harvard  is  not  present,  Mr.  Chester,"  Kath- 
erine  announced,  reading  his  thought;  and  a  sigh 
from  the  greatly  troubled  man  told  her  that  the 
assurance  had  been  received  gratefully. 

"I  suppose,  sir,  that  you  are  wondering  why  Mr. 
Clancy  and  I  have  sought  this  interview,"  she  said 
presently. 

Chester  nodded  his  head  without  words. 

"We  have  come  here  to  have  a  last  word  with 
you  before  we  take  a  decided  action  in  regard  to 
what  happened  during  the  early  hours  of  this  morn- 
ing/' she  told  him,  still  with  that  solemn  visage — 
while  Tom  Clancy  wore  the  expression  of  a  pall- 
bearer at  a  state  funeral. 

The  banker  fidgeted  in  his  chair  and  raised  his 
head  and  eyes  expectantly  to  Katherine. 

"Of  course,"  she  went  on  slowly,  "it  is  not  en- 
tirely becoming  in  me  to  interest  myself  in  procur- 
ing an  indictment  against  you  for  aiding  in  the 


174      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

escape  of  a  prisoner  who  is  charged  with  a  felony — 
particularly  since  I  am  the  beneficiary  in  that  es- 
cape— but,  all  the  same,  Mr.  Chester,  I  shall  not 
hesitate  to  do  that  very  thing,  if  you  force  me  to 
it.  And  Mr.  Clancy  quite  agrees  with  me  in  that 
decision." 

"Most  certainly  I  do,"  said  Tom  sepulchrally. 
"It  is  a  grave  offense,  Chester — most  grave,  in- 
deed." 

"And  we  are  working  for  very  great  results,  sir," 
Katherine  added. 

"Nothing  short  of  complete  vindication  for  Bing 
Harvard  will  satisfy  me,"  said  Tom. 

"While  all  we  shall  demand  of  you,  sir,  is  an  op- 
portunity— the  right  kind  of  an  opportunity,  of 
course — to  establish  his  innocence,"  Lady  Kate  sup- 
plied. 

"And  that  opportunity,  Chester,  as  you  should 
know,  is  directly  inside  of  the  walls  of  the  Cen- 
tropolis  Bank,"  Tom  announced  solemnly. 

It  is  doubtful  if  the  banker  had  a  full  under- 
standing of  these  explanatory  remarks  made  by  his 
unwelcome  callers;  but  he  did  have  a  most  vivid 
recollection  of  that  last  interview  with  Rodney 
Rushton,  of  the  lieutenant's  threats,  of  his  demand, 
and  of  the  consequences  which  might  be  expected 
to  ensue  if  he,  Chester,  were  defiant. 

And  here  were  two  people — the  very  last  in  the 
world  from  whom  he  would  have  been  led  to  expect 


THE  BANKER'S  DILEMMA  175 

such  an  announcement — threatening  him  with  pre- 
cisely the  same  sort  of  dire  calamities  that  Rushton 
had  held  over  his  head — 'indictment  and  all  the  hor- 
rors that  went  with  it. 

He  wondered  dumbly  what  they  could  want,  what 
they  would  demand  of  him. 

Then  something  of  the  absurdity  of  the  present 
situation  occurred  to  him — at  least  it  struck  him  as 
absurd  at  the  moment — but  only  for  a  moment. 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you,  the  prisoner 
who  has  escaped,  can  make  this  nonsensical  charge 
against  me — of  aiding  in  that  escape?"  he  demanded 
of  Katherine,  with  a  touch  of  his  old  spirit.  But  it 
faded  very  quickly  when  she  replied,  with  concise 
calmness : 

"Certainly  not — for  I  have  no  intention  of  giving 
myself  up.  But  Mr.  Clancy,  as  a  citizen  who  de- 
mands that  the  laws  be  upheld,  and  that  justice  be 
done  to  all  alike,  can  demand  that  the  grand  jury 
shall  take  cognizance  of  what  you  have  done.  He, 
,as  a  citizen,  can  force  an  indictment  against  you. 
You  would  be  brought  to  trial  at  General  Sessions, 
and  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  you  would 
be  convicted.  And  that,  Mr.  Sterling  Chester, 
president  of  the  Centropolis  Bank,  would  mean  Sing 
Sing  prison  for  you.  Or,  even  if  you  should  escape 
the  full  penalty  for  your  offense,  you  would  find 
yourself  the  subject  of  a  great  deal  of  unpleasant 
notoriety." 


176     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Chester  drummed  upon  the  arms  of  the  chair 
where  he  was  seated.  He  was  very  pale.  Little 
beads  of  sweat  stood  out  upon  his  forehead.  His 
lips  were  dry,  and  he  attempted  to  moisten  them 
with  the  tip  of  his  tongue. 

"What  do  you  want?"  he  managed  to  cry  out, 
like  one  who  is  in  pain.  "What  did  you  two  come 
here  to  demand  of  me?" 

"Justice,"  said  Clancy. 

"An  opportunity  to  seek  full  justice,"  Katherine 
amended. 

"Do  you  want  me  to  lie  to  myself  and  to  all  the 
world  and  announce  that  I  believe  in  the  innocence 
of  Bingham  Harvard?  Is  that  what  you  want?" 
Chester  demanded  with  more  spirit  than  he  had 
yet  shown.  "I  cannot  do  that,  because  I  do  not 

believe  it.  That  is "  He  paused  himself  and 

came  to  a  full  stop. 

Katherine  asked  mildly :  "What  were  you  about 
to  add  to  that  statement,  Mr.  Chester?" 

"I  was  going  to  say  that  I  have  never  once  had 
the  slightest  doubt  of  the  guilt  of  Bingham  Har- 
vard until — until  certain  things  happened  this  morn- 
ing— until  certain  things  were  said  to  me  this  morn- 
ing, which  have — which  have  impressed  me.  You 
are  not  the  only  person  who  has  threatened  me  since 
I  was  forced  to  go  out  upon  that  unfortunate  er- 
rand this  morning,  Mrs.  Harvard." 

Clancy  spoke  up  quickly. 


THE  BANKER'S  DILEMMA  177 

"No!  Rushton  has  been  threatening  you,  too, 
has  he?"  he  demanded. 

"Yes;  and  almost  in  the  words  that  have  been 
used  here,"  the  banker  replied. 

"I'll  bet  a  brick  watch  against  a  whole  panful  of 
doughnuts  that  he  made  you  pay  for  it,  too,  Ches- 
ter." 

"I  am  to  pay  him  five  thousand  dollars  at  the 
bank  at  ten  o'clock  this  morning — or  as  soon  as  I 
arrive  there,"  Chester  announced  without  emotion. 

"For  his  silence — eh?" 

"Yes." 

"And  he  agreed  to  make  it  all  right  with  the 
inspector — and  all  that  sort  of  rot,  didn't  he?" 

"Yes." 

Tom  Clancy  looked  at  his  watch.  The  time  was 
already  nearly  half  past  nine.  He  reached  out  for 
the  telephone  and  pulled  it  across  the  table  toward 
him.  Then  he  called  the  number  of  the  Centropolis 
Bank,  which  was  familiar  to  him;  and  Chester 
looked  on  in  amazement,  and  kept  silent. 

"Hello?"  Clancy's  two  companions  in  the  room 
heard  him  say.  "The  Centropolis  Bank — I  want  to 
speak  to  the  cashier,  if  he  has  arrived.  Hello — the 
cashier?  I  am  talking  at  the  home  of  Mr.  Ches- 
ter— your  president.  Mr.  Chester  is  not  well  this 
morning  and  wishes  me  to  say  that  he  will  not  be 
at  the  bank  until  noon  to-day.  Oh,  no,  it  is  not 
serious  at  all.  Merely  a  temporary  indisposition. 


178      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

His  rest  was  broken  last  night.  He  will  be  down 
about  noon.  In  the  mean  time,  he  asks  me  to  say 
that  he  has  an  appointment  with  Lieutenant  Rush- 
ton  this  morning  at  ten.  You  are  to  see  Rushton 
in  person,  when  he  calls,  and  say  to  him  that  if 
he  will  return  at  three  o'clock,  or  a  quarter  past,  this 
afternoon,  the  business  arrangement  between  them 
will  be  consummated.  Who  am  I  ?  Oh,  I  quite  for- 
got to  tell  you  that.  I  am  a  doctor.  Dr.  Thomas 
C .  Good-by." 

He  put  down  the  telephone  and  turned  to  Kath- 
erine. 

"If  I  don't  get  Mr.  Rodney  Rushton  good  and 
plenty,  where  the  hair  is  mighty  short,  before  this 
day  is  over,  you  may  lock  me  up  as  an  incom- 
petent!" he  announced.  Then  he  wheeled  toward 
Chester.  "And  you've  got  to  help,  understand? 
You  have  got  to.  You  will  pay  him  that  five  thou- 
sand in  bills — marked  bills,  Chester ;  and  Chief  Red- 
hea^  and  a  few  others  will  do  the  rest." 

"It  seems  to  me,"  said  Katherine,  "that  we  are 
neglecting  the  purpose  that  brought  us  here." 

"So  we  are.  Look  here,  Chester,  this  is  what  we 
want — provided  you  don't  want  to  face  an  indict- 
ment, a  trial,  and  a  prison  sentence.  We  want  a 
chance — 'just  a  chance." 

"I  don't  understand  you  at  all,  Tom,"  the  banker 
replied  wearily. 

"I'll  explain.    You  are  shy  just  one  assistant  pay- 


THE  BANKER'S  DILEMMA  179 

ing  teller  down  at  your  bank,  and  you  have  been 
shy  that  one  ever  since  Bing  Harvard  got  out.  Oh, 
I  know  what  I'm  talking  about.  You  shove  one  of 
your  note  tellers  into  the  cage  during  the  rush  hours 
and  get  along  with  Atkinson  and  Mordaunt  the 
rest  of  the  time.  That's  right,  isn't  it?" 

"Yes." 

"Well,  we  want  you  to  put  another  assistant  pay- 
ing teller  to  work  when  the  bank  opens  for  business 
to-morrow  morning.  You  are  the  whole  push  down 
there,  and  you  don't  have  to  consult  your  directors 
about  it.  I  know  that,  too." 

"But,  who  is  it,  Tom?  Who  and  what  is  he? 
I  cannot  appoint  a  teller  unless  I  know " 

"Yes  you  can — and  in  this  case  you've  got  to  do 
it.  He  is  a  young  man  that  I  am  going  to  send 
to  you,  and  I  will  go  on  his  bond  for  any  sum  you 
want.  So  will  the  Gibraltar  Security  Company.  I 
have  arranged  for  that — or  will,  to-day." 

"You  must  inform  me  who  and  what  he  is,  Tom," 
Chester  announced  firmly. 

"His  name" — Tom  cast  a  covert  glance  toward 
Katherine  out  of  the  corner  of  his  eyes — "is  Caton. 
Erin  Caton.  That's  Irish,  of  course.  He  is  a  pay- 
ing teller,  naturally,  or  I  wouldn't  be  sending  him  to 
you.  Incidentally  he  will  be  laboring  in  the  inter- 
ests of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bingham  Harvard,  and  he  is 
going  to  stay  right  there  inside  of  that  cage  during 
.business  hours  until  he  finds  out  who  lifted  that 


180      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  dollars  which 
you  have  made  yourself  think  that  Bing  Harvard 
stole." 

"Do  you  mean  that  he  is  a  detective?"  Chester 
asked,  feeling  that  he  would  have  to  submit. 

"He  will  be  one  when  he  gets  there,  Chester — 
and  the  best  ever.  I'll  guarantee  that  you  will  be 
charmed  with  him,  and  that  you  will  see  the  time 
when  you  will  bless  the  day  that  you  took  him  into 
your  employ." 

Then  Tom  Clancy  turned  slowly  around  and 
winked  one  eye  deliberately  at  Lady  Kate — and  for 
some  unknown  reason  she  smiled  brightly  and 
nodded  her  head  with  emphasis. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

THE    MASQUERADER 

"Can  you  do  it,  Lady  Kate?  Can  you?"  Clancy 
asked,  when  half  an  hour  later  they  came  away 
from  the  house  of  the  banker. 

"Of  course  I  can  do  it,"  she  replied  with  decision 
as  he  stood  aside  while  she  got  into  the  black  taxi- 
cab  which  Julius  was  to  drive  for  them,  for  Kath- 
erine  had  lost  no  time  in  communicating  with  her 
faithful  servitor  that  morning  as  soon  as  she  had 
telephoned  to  Tom. 

Clancy  followed  and  seated  himself  beside  her. 

"It  is  a  big  undertaking,"  he  said,  shaking  his 
head  dubiously.  "I  tremble  for  you,  Katherine." 

"Nonsense,"  she  retorted.  "I  will  carry  it  off 
with  flags  flying  and  banners  waving.  There  isn't 
a  thing  about  it  that  I  cannot  do.  I  am  quick  at 
figures—*!  know  how  to  handle  money.  Oh,  I  am 
not  a  bit  afraid — I  have  been  preparing  for  this 
opportunity  for  months." 

"But  your  appearance,  little  lady.  Do  you  really 
think  that  you  can  disguise  that  sufficiently  well?" 

181 


182      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Certainly  I  can." 

"I  don't  know  about  that.  You  are  a  mighty 
feminine  sort  of  a  woman.  There  isn't  anything 
mannish  about  you  at  all.  To  be  sure,  your  voice 
is  a  contralto,  but  it  is  very  far  from  being  a  heavy 
one." 

"Listen  to  it  now,"  she  said,  dropping  it  to  a 
much  deeper  tone — and  then  they  both  laughed. 

"But  your  hair,"  he  went  on,  in  the  effort  to  find 
more  objections  to  the  plan  she  had  proposed  that 
morning,  and  which  he  had  now  carried  to  a  point 
where  it  would  have  to  be  fulfilled. 

"I  will  have  to  sacrifice  that,  naturally." 

"It's  too  bad.    It  is  so  beautiful." 

"Nonsense.     It  will  grow  out  again." 

"And  then" — he  wondered  if  he  was  blushing, 
and  decided  that  he  was,  so  he  half  turned  his  head 
away — "there  is  your  figure." 

"Oh,  I  know  how  to  fix  that,"  she  responded, 
laughing  gaily,  for  the  spirit  of  adventure  was  upon 
her.  "I  used  to  be  quite  a  star  at  private  theatricals. 
I  have  often  taken  masculine  parts.  I'm  not  a  bit 
afraid  that  I  will  be  discovered.  I  shall  keep  my- 
self very  much  aloof  from  the  others,  for,  to  my 
mind,  that  will  be  the  best  way  to  find  out.  what  I 
want  to  know.  It  will  be  much  better  than  to  seek 
to  ingratiate  myself  with  them.  Don't  you  agree 
with  me?" 

Tom  nodded. 


THE  MASQUERADER  183 

"One  cannot  help  agreeing  with  you,  Katherine, 
when  you  insist  upon  it.  You  would  make  a  bully 
good  crook  yourself — you  have  such  a  taking  way 
with  you.  Now,  how  am  I  to  get  the  necessary 
papers  to  you?  Your  personal  recommendations — 
I'll  have  the  chief  secure  those — and  the  bonds  and 
my  letter  to  Chester,  introducing  you,  which  he 
will  want  to  show  to  his  directors?" 

"You  can  do  that  by  leaving  your  house  to-mor- 
row morning  at  half  past  eight  o'clock  and  turn- 
ing toward  Columbus  Avenue.  You  will  find  Julius 
waiting  at  the  corner  with  this  car.  Engage  him  to 
drive  you  somewhere,  and  give  the  papers  to  him. 
That  will  be  sufficient." 

"You  ought  to  be  at  the  bank  by  nine — or  a  little 
before." 

"I  will  be  there,"  she  assured  him.  "I  was  rather 
surprised,  Tom,  at  the  readiness  with  which  Mr. 
Chester  agreed  to  the  arrangement." 

"Well,"  Clancy  said,  "we  had  him  dead  scared, 
for  one  thing.  For  another,  that  play  of  Rushton's 
for  the  five  thousand  plunks  sort  of  jarred  him. 
It  set  him  to  thinking,  too.  You  see,  lady,  bankers 
are  queer  fishes  when  all  is  said.  Once  you  arouse 
their  suspicions,  they  will  swallow  the  whole  tackle 
— hook,  line,  bob,  and  sinker.  It  never  occurred 
to  Chester  to  doubt  Rushton  until  he  found  that 
Rushton  could  be  bought — and  if  there  is  anything 
on  earth  that  a  banker  is  shy  of  and  hates  consti- 


184      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

tutionally  it  is  a  man  who  can  be  bought.  That 
conversation  he  had  with  Rushton  jarred  him  so, 
that  now  he  is  more  than  half  willing  to  believe  that 
Rushton  did  frame  up  the  case  against  Bing." 

"Yes — I  thought  so,  too." 

"Only  he  has  got  to  take  time  to  think  it  over. 
If  all  men  were  bankers,  Katherine,  I  would  thor- 
oughly sympathize  with  the  Pharisee  who  went  into 
the  temple  with  the  publican." 

"Speaking  of  Rushton,"  she  said,  "just  what  are 
you  to  do  this  afternoon  at  three  o'clock  when  he 
goes  to  the  bank  for  that  money?" 

"I  don't  know  yet.  I  haven't  decided.  I  shall 
consult  the  chief  before  I  do  decide.  But  my  im- 
pression is  that  we  will  have  a  warrant  sworn  out 
for  him,  and  then  have  him  pinched  when  he  comes 
out  of  the  bank  with  that  marked  money  in  his 
jeans.  That  is  the  way  it  looks  to  me  just  now." 

"Don't  you  think  that  will  be  premature,  Tom? 
And  doesn't  it  weaken  us  a  little  bit  with  Mr. 
Chester?  He  would  have  to  appear  against  Rush- 
ton,  and  that  would  mean  giving  the  whole  thing 
away.  He  would  discover  then  that  he  had  not 
committed  such  a  great  offense,  after  all.  You 
know  there  was  no  official  charge  entered  against 
me." 

"Maybe  you  are  right  about  that,  Lady  Kate. 
Anyhow,  I'll  talk  it  over  with  Redhead." 

"Let  me  make  a  suggestion." 


THE  MASQUERADER 185 

"Well?" 

"Mr.  Chester  promised  that  he  would  have  the 
bills  marked  that  he  is  to  give  to  Rushton.  Very 
well,  let  Rushton  carry  them 'away  from  the  bank 
with  him — only  have  him  trailed.  He  will  deposit 
that  money  somewhere  the  first  thing  to-morrow 
morning — won't  he?" 

"Very  likely." 

"Well,  one  of  the  chief's  men  can  follow  him 
into  the  bank  where  he  makes  the  deposit,  and  can 
step  to  the  window  the  minute  Rushton  leaves  it; 
and  I  believe  that  the  bank,  at  the  chief's  request, 
will  consent  to  lay  aside  those  identical  bills  that 
Rushton  deposits  and  to  put  an  affidavit  from  the 
receiving  teller  with  them,  that  Rushton  did  de- 
posit them  there.  Why,  Tom,  if  your  friend  should 
have  five  thousand  dollars  with  him  to  reimburse 
the  bank  I  think  they  would  hand  over  those  very 
bills — with  such  an  affidavit." 

"Lady  Kate,  I  take  off  my  hat  to  you.  In  purely 
classic  phraseology  you're  a  corker!" 

"Thank  you.  And  now  I  am  going  to  drop  you 
at  the  next  corner.  I  have  a  great  deal  to  do  in 
order  to  make  myself  ready  for  to-morrow." 

"That  is  no  idle  jest,  I  take  it,  Lady  Kate." 

"Tell  me,  do  you  think  you  will  see  Bingham  to- 
day or  to-night?" 

"Give  it  up,  little  lady.  I  shall  stop  at  the  office 
of  the  chief  on  the  way  down,  and  I'll  telephone  to 


186      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

the  top  of  the  old  warehouse  from  there.     I  as- 
sume that  he  will  be  there." 

"You  are  not  going  to  tell  him " 

"Certainly  not.    That  is  understood." 
"He  would  not  consent  to  it,  I  know." 
"Especially  to  your  sacrificing  your  hair.    I  don't 
blame  him.     I  wouldn't,  either." 

"Make  him  understand  that  he  must  not  try  to 
see  me  again  until  I  send  for  him;  for — don't  you 
see — we  must  not  meet  while  I  am  masquerading 
as  a  young  man.    He  would  spoil  the  whole  thing." 
"Again,  I  do  not  blame  him.    I  would,  too." 
"Why?    Don't  you  believe  that  I  can  do  it?" 
"I  believe  that  you  can  do  anything  on  earth 
that  you  start  out  to  do." 
"Then  why- 

"Well,  I  expect  it  is  because  I  admire  you  so 
much  as  you  are.  I  don't  like  to  think  about  the 
things  that  you  may  be  up  against  in  this  under- 
taking. Do  you  know,  I  think  it  is  rather  tough 
that  Bing  should  have  seen  you  first — before  I  did, 
I  mean." 

Katherine  laughed  lightly  as  Tom  opened  the 
door  to  get  out 

"It  wouldn't  have  made  a  particle  of  difference," 
she  said  happily.  "Bingham  is  my  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Tom.  He  is  my  king.  He  is  everything. 
And,  oh,  he  is  such  a  splendid  fellow !" 


THE  MASQUERADER  187 

"Isn't  he,  though?  Well,  here  goes!  So  long, 
little  lady!" 

"Good-by,  Tom!" 

"Keep  your  eyes  peeled  when  you  go  to  work 
in  that  bank." 

"I  will." 

Tom  Clancy  strode  away  in  one  direction — the 
cab  rolled  away  in  another. 

That  morning's  work  had  accomplished  much. 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE    HOUSE  ON   THE   ROOF 

Bing  Harvard  had  been  in  the  little  house  on  the 
roof  rather  more  than  half  an  hour  when  the  tele- 
phone rang.  Remembering  that  it  was  the  detec- 
tive chief's  private  wire  only  that  communicated 
there,  he  replied  to  it,  and  was  delighted  when  he 
recognized  Tom  Clancy's  voice. 

"Hello,  Tom!"  he  said.  'This  is  bully— to  be 
able  to  speak  to  you  like  this.  Are  you  quite  sure 
that  there  are  no  eavesdroppers  on  this  wire?" 

"Perfectly  sure,  Bing,"  came  the  reply.  "Say, 
that  was  a  pretty  good  joke  you  played  on  our  good 
chief,  Redhead,  this  morning." 

"How  is  that?  I  don't  understand.  I  am  not 
aware  that  I  have  played  any  joke  on  him." 

"Aren't  you?  He  says  that  you  are  the  only 
original  combination  of  chain  lightning  and  per- 
petual motion.  You  know,  I  suppose,  that  he  has 
got  one  of  his  own  men  working  on  the  regular 
force  down  at  the  bureau — a  chap  named  Connor  ?" 

188 


THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  ROOF          189 

"I  think  you  told  me  as  much,  Tom." 

"Well,  last  night  he  sent  Connor  to  find  out 
where  they  had  taken  Lady  Kate  after  she  was  ar- 
rested by  a  detective  named  Hardner.  Connor  did 
find  out  and  reported.  This  morning,  bright  and 
early,  the  chief  beat  it  for  the  wilds  of  Queens,  got 
there  at  eight  o'clock,  and — well,  you  know  the  rest. 
You  got  there  first.  That's  the  joke.  Now,  one 
more  word,  and  then  the  chief  wants  to  talk  to 
you." 

"Go  ahead." 

"Lady  Kate  telephoned  to  me  this  morning — 
after  she  parted  with  you.  I  had  quite  a  long  talk 
with  her.  She  wanted  me  to  tell  you  that  she  is 
all  right,  and  to  give  you  her  love ;  and  to  say,  with 
my  own  indorsement,  that  she  has  hit  upon  a  theory 
and  a  scheme  which  she  is  going  to  work  out  right 
away.  I  am  going  to  help  her;  so  is  Redhead,  a 
little,  and  we  both  approve.  But  you  are  not  to 
know  about  it  at  the  present  time,  and  are  to  ask  no 
questions.  I  reckon  she  is  the  boss,  and  those  are 
her  orders.  See?" 

"All  right,  Tom;  only  I  don't  see— 

"You  don't  have  to.  The  chief  wants  to  talk  to 
you  now." 

"I  want  to  talk  to  him,  too.  I  have  something 
to  tell  him.  I  am  dead  tired.  I  feel  as  though  I 
hadn't  slept  for  a  month.  My  inclination  was  to 
turn  in  the  moment  I  got  here  this  morning,  but 


190      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

I  had  some  papers  that  I  took  from  Rushton's 
room  when  I  made  that  call  upon  him;  and  some 
memoranda  also.  I  want  to  tell  him  about  all 
that." 

"All  right——" 

"Say,  Tom!" 

"Yes?" 

"I  ran  into  Mordaunt  this  morning.  He  used  to 
be  one  of  my  assistants  at  the  bank." 

"I  know  him.    What  about  it?" 

Then  rapidly  and  concisely,  Harvard  related  the 
incidents  of  the  morning  as  we  know  them ;  and  at 
the  end  of  the  story  Clancy  replied: 

"Splendid,  all  of  it,  Bing.  I  have  been  holding 
the  receiver  so  the  chief  could  hear  what  you  said. 
It  fits  in  beautifully  with  something  that  he  is  going 
to  do  to-day;  and  he  thinks  that  those  papers  and 
the  memoranda  you  took  from  Rushton's  rooms 
will  help  a  lot,  too.  And  now  I'm  going  to  turn 
the  phone  over  to  him.  I  am  not  going  to  try  to 
see  you  to-night ;  but  I  will  to-morrow  night.  Good- 
by." 

"Hello,  Harvard!"  another  voice  called  over  the 
wire.  "This  is  the  chief  speaking.  We  have  not 
made  each  other's  acquaintance  as  yet,  but  we  soon 
will.  You  might  give  me  a  bare  outline  of  what 
those  papers  and  the  memoranda  consist,  if  you 
will.  That  will  be  sufficient  for  the  present.  After 
that  you  can  put  them  under  a  paper-weight  on  the 


THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  ROOF          191 

table  and  turn  in.  When  you  wake  up  you  will 
probably  find  me  sitting  there,  examining  them.  I 
want  to  have  a  talk  with  you  before  night." 

"All  right,  chief." 

"Now,  what  is  that  stuff?  Give  me  just  an 
outline  of  it." 

"The  memoranda  I  made  were  taken  from  bank 
books — exchange  and  savings  banks,  both — that  I 
discovered  in  Rushton's  desk.  They  were  kept  in 
cipher,  and  I  have  not  had  time  to  work  on  that 
yet;  but  working  out  ciphers  is  a  fad  of  mine,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  I  can  read  this  one." 

"All  right  so  far.     Go  ahead." 

"It  is  plain  enough  to  see  that  the  total  amount 
of  the  various  deposits  will  go  well  into  six  fig- 
ures." 

"Good.  Give  me  the  names  of  the  several  banks, 
slowly,  so  that  I  can  jot  them  down  as  you  call  them 
off.  I  may  want  to  use  that  information  before  I 
have  an  opportunity  to  talk  with  you." 

Harvard  called  off  the  names  of  four  exchange 
banks  and  of  two  savings  banks. 

"Now,  what  about  the  papers  you  brought  away 
with  you,  Harvard?"  the  chief  asked  when  that 
was  done. 

"They  are  mostly  figures,  made  on  scraps  of 
paper;  sums  added  to  other  sums,  with  the  dates 
jotted  down.  They  are  all  rather  blind,  but  there 
is  no  doubt  that  they  have  reference  to  the  de- 


192      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

posits — that  is,  to  the  receipt  of  various  sums  be- 
fore the  deposits  were  made.  In  some  instances 
there  are  initials  against  the  sums,  which  may  in- 
dicate the  sources  of  the  receipts.  In  one  instance 
there  is  a  name — unknown  to  me.  One  of  the 
scraps  bears  my  name,  Harvard,  plainly  written, 
and  on  that  one  there  is  more  figuring;  but  it  is 
done  in  lettered  cipher,  like  the  bank  books." 

"Anything  more?" 

"Just  a  small  package  of  vest-pocket  memoran- 
dum books,  held  together  by  a  rubber  band.  Every- 
thing inside  of  them  is  in  cipher.  I  haven't  yet 
had  time  to  examine  them  thoroughly." 

"How  many  of  these  little  books  are  there?" 

"Six." 

"That  would  be  one  for  each  bank  you  have  men- 
tioned." 

"That's  so.    I  had  not  thought  of  that." 

"Is  that  all?" 

"Yes." 

"You  are  not  going  out  on  the  streets  to-day, 
are  you?"  the  chief  asked. 

"I  had  not  intended  to  do  so." 

"Well,  don't — at  least,  not  until  after  I  have  been 
there  to  see  you;  and  I  cannot  say  just  how  soon 
that  will  be.  And  now  I  want  to  congratulate  you 
on  that  play  you  made  in  getting  your  wife  out  of 
the  jail  across  the  river.  You  have  got  the  police 


THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  ROOF          193 

department  'going'  pretty  nearly  as  badly  as  you 
did  it  before  you  went  away,  Harvard." 

"That  reminds  me,  chief;  I  wonder  if  Chester 
will  get  into  any  serious  trouble  on  account  of  my 
leaving  him  locked  up  in  that  cell  the  way  I  did?" 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,  Harvard.  There  was  no  offi- 
cial record  of  the  arrest  of  Lady  Kate,  and  you 
can  bet  your  life  there  won't  be  any  now.  Rush- 
ton  got  over  there  before  I  did,  and  he  took  Ches- 
ter away  with  him.  He  tried  to  touch  Chester,  too, 
for  a  little  graft.  That  is  the  lay  I  am  on  this 
morning.  If  I  can  get  the  'goods'  on  Rushton — 
and  it  looks  now  as  if  I  could — we  won't  do  a  thing 
to  him,  I  don't  think !  Good-by." 

"I  say,  chief!" 

But  the  chief  had  replaced  the  receiver,  and  after 
a  moment's  thought  Harvard  decided  not  to  call 
him  again. 

He  was  weary  with  his  exertions  and  from  lack 
of  sleep,  and  it  did  not  take  him  very  long  after 
that  to  throw  aside  his  clothing  and  to  seek  the  rest 
that  he  needed  so  badly. 

In  the  mean  time,  Chief  Redhead  was  as  busy 
as  a  hive  of  bees. 

The  information  that  Clancy  had  taken  to  him, 
and  that  which  Harvard  had  just  given  him  to  go 
with  it,  opened  up  a  new  phase  of  the  case  which 
was  very  promising. 

And  Harvard  slept,  blissfully  unconscious  that 


194      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

his  wife  was  at  that  very  time  engaged  in  the  prep- 
aration for  the  duties  she  was  to  begin  the  follow- 
ing morning,  when,  in  the  guise  of  a  man,  she  in- 
tended to  appear  at  the  Centropolis  Bank  to  begin 
her  new  duties  as  an  assistant  paying  teller. 

And  she  expected  that  great  things  would  come 
of  it — and  great  things  did. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

BAITING   A    TRAP 

Mordaunt,  the  assistant  paying  teller  at  the  Cen- 
tropolis  Bank,  talked  matters  over  very  fully  with 
his  wife  before  he  started  down-town  that  morn- 
ing, and  they  agreed,  entirely,  that  the  subterfuge 
which  had  been  practised  upon  the  policemen  at 
their  home  should  not  be  continued  at  the  bank. 

"Suppose  you  do  lose  your  position,  Ben,"  his 
rosy-cheeked  wife  said  to  him  at  parting;  "you  will 
soon  be  able  to  find  another  one.  We  have  got  some 
money  saved  up  to  keep  us  going  for  a  time — and 
I  can't  bear  the  thought  of  your  telling  lies.  And 
it  would  not  be  fair  to  Bingham  Harvard,  either, 
for  you  to  make  it  appear,  even  for  a  moment,  that 
we  have  ever  believed  him  guilty.  He  is  back  here 
to  clear  himself,  and  let  us  do  everything  in  our 
power  to  help." 

Thus  it  was  that  as  soon  as  Mordaunt  arrived 
at  the  bank  he  asked  to  see  the  president,  who  was 
usually  in  his  place  among  the  first;  but  Mr.  Ches- 

195 


196      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

ter  had  not  appeared,  and  when  the  clock  pointed 
to  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  the  doors  would 
be  opened  for  the  business  of  the  day  Mordaunt 
sought  the  cashier. 

"Mr.  Cheever,"  he  began,  "I  have  got  a  con- 
fession to  make.  I  hoped  to  make  it  to  Mr.  Ches- 
ter, in  person,  but  he  has  not  arrived — 'and  it  is  my 
duty  to  tell  you  what  is  on  my  mind  before  I  begin 
my  work  for  the  day." 

Cheever,  the  cashier,  was  a  quiet,  silent,  taciturn 
man,  past  middle  age,  forbidding  in  a  way,  but, 
nevertheless,  thoroughly  well  liked  by  every  em- 
ployee who  came  in  contact  with  him. 

He  looked  up  keenly,  under  his  bushy  brows,  at 
Mordaunt,  and  replied : 

"The  president  will  not  be  down  till  noon,  Mor- 
daunt. You  may  tell  me  what  is  on  your  mind, 
or  you  can  save  it  until  he  comes,  as  you  please. 
That  is  up  to  you." 

"I  think  I  would  rather  tell  you  about  it  than 
him,  sir,"  Mordaunt  replied,  relieved. 

"Well?" 

"I  met  Bingham  Harvard  on  the  street  near  my 
home  early  this  morning." 

He  paused,  expecting  some  reply — but  there  was 
none. 

Cheever  was  one  of  those  rare  men  who  never 
express  surprise  at  anything.  He  merely  nodded 
his  shaggy  head,  and  Mordaunt  continued: 


BAITING  A  TRAP  197 

"I  was  honestly  glad  to  see  Harvard.  I  have 
never  believed  him  guilty  of  that  thing  he  was 
charged  with.  As  soon  as  he  understood  that  this 
morning  he  was  glad  to  see  me.  I  insisted  upon 
taking  him  home  to  breakfast  with  me,  and  he  went. 
There  was,  however,  an  officer  trailing  me, 
and " 

Mordaunt  gave  a  clear  and  a  full  account  of  all 
that  had  happened  at  his  house  that  morning,  omit- 
ting nothing,  so  far  as  his  knowledge  went. 

"Now,  sir,"  he  concluded,  "if  you  think  I  had 
better  keep  out  of  the  teller's  cage  until  Mr.  Ches- 
ter has  been  informed  of  this  matter,  I  am  quite 
willing  to  do  so." 

"Nonsense,  Ben,"  was  the  quick,  almost  savage 
retort,  for  that  was  Cheever's  manner  when  he  was 
very  much  in  earnest.  "Get  into  the  cage  and  go 
to  work.  You  did  perfectly  right.  I  am  glad  that 
you  came  to  me,  though,  for  already  I  have  received 
a  written  report  of  all  of  it  from  the  police." 

"Thank  you,  sir,"  Mordaunt  replied,  and  was 
turning  away  when  a  sharp  word  from  the  cashier 
stopped  him. 

"Your  opinion  of  Harvard  and  mine  exactly  co- 
incide," Cheever  said  shortly,  fussing  with  some 
papers  on  his  desk.  "You  may  tell  him  that,  if  you 
should  happen  to  see  him  again." 

Mordaunt  returned  to  his  duties  very  much  elated. 


198      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Atkinson,  the  paying  teller  who  had  succeeded  Har- 
vard, looked  up  with  a  sneering  smile  and  inquired : 

"Business  with  the  chief  this  morning,  Mor- 
daunt?" 

"I  merely  told  him  something  that  he  already 
knew  about,"  was  the  reply ;  and  the  business  of  the 
day  began. 

Lieutenant  Rushton  strode  into  the  bank  at  ex- 
actly five  minutes  past  ten. 

There  was  not  an  employee  there  who  did  not 
know  him  by  sight,  and  more  than  one  curious 
glance  was  cast  in  his  direction  as  he  made  his 
way  toward  the  raised  office  of  the  president. 

But  Badger,  the  watch,  stopped  him,  and  thrust 
out  a  huge  paw  of  a  hand — which  Rushton,  for 
some  reason  of  his  own,  chose  to  ignore. 

"Cheever,  the  cashier,  told  me  to  tell  you  to  go 
straight  to  see  him  when  you  came  in,  lieutenant," 
Badger  said;  "so  I  guess  you're  expected,  all  right." 

A  moment  later  Rushton  was  listening  to  the 
message  that  Tom  Clancy  had  telephoned  to  the 
bank  from  the  library  of  Chester's  house;  and  he 
was  also  scowling.  It  did  not  fit  in  exactly  with  his 
plans  for  that  day. 

"Is  that  all  that  Chester  said?"  he  demanded. 
"Didn't  he  give  you  anx  directions  about  payin' 
me  a  bill  he  owes  me  ?" 

"Not  a  word,  lieutenant,"  was  the  reply. 

"Well,  what  does  he  want  me  to  be  here  at  a 


BAITING  A  TRAP 199 

quarter  past  three  for — the  banks  close  at  three? 
Didn't  he  say  what  time  he  was  comin'  down,  him- 
self?" 

"The  message  was  that  Mr.  Chester  would  be 
down  about  noon." 

"Huh!  Then  what  does  he  want  me  to  wait  till 
three  for?  Say — you  just  tell  him  when  he  gets 
here  that  I'll  be  back  to  see  him  between  one  and 
two ;  an'  that  I  wanta  close  up  that  matter  between 
us,  right  away,  will  you?" 

"Certainly,  lieutenant." 

"I  expect  that  mebby  he  was  a  little  off  his  feed 
this  mornin',"  Rushton  volunteered,  with  a  grin. 
"However,  that  ain't  neither  here  nor  there.  You 
give  him  my  message,  will  you  ?" 

"I  will." 

"Say,  Cheever,  did  you  know  that  the  Night 
Wind — that  guy  Harvard — is  back  in  town  again?" 
Rushton  asked  suddenly. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  had  heard  of  it,"  was  the  reply. 

"Well,  has  headquarters  notified  you  that  one  of 
your  men  here  in  the  bank  saw  him  and  talked 
with  him  this  morning?" 

"Yes.     I  have  been  informed  of  that,  also." 

"Well,  what  are  you  goin'  to  do  about  it?" 

"Nothing,  lieutenant.  It  is  a  matter  entirely  for 
Mr.  Chester  to  decide.  The  employee  to  whom  you 
refer  has  already  made  his  report  to  me  about  it." 

"Huh !    Well,  /  don't  take  any  stock  in  his  story 


200      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

about  trying  to  notify  the  police  that  Harvard  was 
in  his  house.  He  can  tell  that  to  Sweeney.  You'd 
better  keep  an  eye  on  that  fellow  Mordaunt.  That's 
all.  I'll  be  here  between  one  an'  two."  And  Rush- 
ton  left  the  bank. 

Shortly  before  twelve  o'clock  of  that  day  Ches- 
ter's limousine  car  drew  up  at  the  door  of  his  house 
to  take  the  banker  down-town. 

Ten  minutes  later  Chester  issued  from  the  front 
door,  and  as  he  began  to  descend  the  steps  a  man 
with  red  hair  and  extraordinarily  keen  eyes  and 
manner  stepped  quickly  forward  from  nowhere  in 
particular,  and  met  him  at  the  bottom  of  them. 

"Good  day,  Mr.  Chester,"  he  said  cordially.  "I 
am  a  messenger  from  Mr.  Thomas  Clancy.  He 
asked  me  to  meet  you  here  and  to  ride  down-town 
with  you  in  your  car.  Perhaps  he  mentioned  my 
name  to  you?  He  usually  refers  to  me  as  the 
'chief  or  as  'Redhead.'  " 

The  banker  paused  at  the  bottom  of  the  steps. 

"Yes,"  he  replied.  "You  are,  I  understand,  at 
the  head  of  a  detective  agency.  What  do  you  want 
with  me,  sir?" 

"I  wish  to  arrange  with  you  the  plan  for  mark- 
ing the  bills  that  you  are  to  pay  over  to  Rodney 
Rushton  some  time  to-day,  Mr.  Chester;  and,  also, 
to  agree  upon  some  plan  by  which  those  same  bills 
may  be  isolated  and  identified  at  whatever  bank 
Rushton  may  decide  to  deposit  them.  I  know  of 


BAITING  A  TRAP  201 

a  plan  by  which  that  can  be  accomplished  perfectly, 
but  it  will  require  your  cooperation." 

"Very  well,  sir;  very  well.  You  may  get  into 
the  car." 

"It  is  morally  certain,  Mr.  Chester,  that  Rush- 
ton  will  not  wait  till  three  o'clock,  as  Clancy  pro- 
posed, to  go  to  the  bank  for  that  money.  He  will 
wish  to  deposit  it  in  one  of  the  banks  where  he  does 
business  this  afternoon,"  the  chief  said  as  soon  as 
they  were  in  the  car.  "I  have  here  a  list  of  the 
banks  he  uses.  He  will  deposit  the  five  thousand 
dollars  you  will  give  him  in  one  of  them.  You,  of 
course,  understand  that  the  payment  you  make  to 
him  is  in  the  character  of  blackmail?" 

"Certainly." 

"Well,  sir,  for  many  reasons  I  deem  it  unwise 
to  proceed  against  Rushton,  in  any  manner,  to-day; 
and,  therefore,  I  have  thought  out  the  following 
plan,  which  will  be  entirely  successful  at  any  time 
we  may  choose  to  spring  the  trap  on  him.  But  it 
will  require  your  hearty  cooperation." 

Chester  nodded;  and  then  the  chief  recited  in 
detail  exactly  what  he  wished  to  have  the  banker 
do  in  the  matter. 

A  block  away  from  the  Centropolis  Bank  the 
chief  said  good-by  to  the  banker  and  got  down; 
but  he  hastened  to  the  nearest  telephone  and  called 
up  Clancy,  to  whom  he  said,  briefly : 

"We  have  got  him,  Clancy,  where  he  can't  squirm 


302      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

— and  we  can  nail  him  at  any  time  we  choose,  after 
he  has  accepted  that  money  and  made  the  deposit. 
Chester  is  leaning  very  much  our  way  now,  although 
he  doesn't  quite  realize  it — yet." 


CHAPTER    XXII 

A    NET    FOR    RUSHTON 

Sterling  Chester,  president  of  the  Centropolis 
Bank,  was  deep  in  consultation  with  three  men 
who,  themselves,  looked  as  if  they  might  be  bank- 
ers, when  Lieutenant  Rodney  Rushton  strode  down 
the  space  between  the  screen  and  the  outer  win- 
dows toward  the  president's  office  at  twenty-five 
minutes  past  one  o'clock  that  day. 

Rushton  paused  just  outside  the  brass  swing  gate, 
and  Chester,  raising  his  eyes,  saw  him. 

"Just  a  moment,  Lieutenant  Rushton,"  he  said. 
Then,  addressing  the  three  men  who  were  seem- 
ingly in  consultation  with  him,  he  added,  and  so 
that  Rushton  could  overhear  him:  "I  will  have  to 
ask  you  to  excuse  me  for  one  moment,  gentlemen — 
if  you  will  just  step  aside  for  a  second.  My  busi- 
ness with  the  lieutenant  will  not  occupy  more  than 
two  or  three  minutes.  Come  inside,  Rushton." 

Rushton,  with  a  scowl  on  his  face,  because  it  was 
habitual  with  him,  but  with  no  loss  of  assurance, 

203 


204      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

passed  through  the  gateway  and  seated  himself  upon 
a  chair  that  one  of  Chester's  callers  had  occupied 
— and  which  the  banker  indicated  to  him  with  a 
slight  gesture. 

Rushton's  back  was  toward  the  three  men  who 
had  withdrawn  partly  across  the  office  space,  but 
who,  nevertheless,  watched  covertly  all  that  took 
place. 

Chester  pulled  open  a  drawer  and  took  from  it 
a  package  of  bills,  each  of  the  denomination  of  a 
thousand  dollars;  and  he  counted  them  over  slowly 
— five  of  them — on  the  desk. 

"Here  are  the  five  thousand  dollars  you  require 
of  me,  Rushton,"  he  said,  so  that  the  others  could 
hear  him. 

Rushton  objected  in  a  whisper.  "You  needn't 
talk  quite  so  loud  about  this  business.  Who  are 
them  guys,  anyhow?" 

"Oh,  those  gentlemen?  They  are  merely  busi- 
ness acquaintances.  I  thought  it  best  not  to  keep 
you  waiting,"  Chester  replied,  still  in  a  tone  that 
the  others  could  hear.  And  he  added  quickly : 
"As  for  the  receipt — that  is,  of  course,  customary 
in  business  transactions." 

"Well,  I  ain't  goin'  to  sign  no  receipt,"  Rushton 
whispered  sharply  into  the  banker's  ear.  "Do  I 
get  that  dough — or  don't  I?  And  you  needn't  tell 
anybody  in  the  bank  what  your  answer  is,  neither." 

"Very  well;  very  well,  lieutenant,"  Chester  re- 


A  NET  FOR  RUSHTON 205 

plied,  lifting  his  other  hand  away  from  the  money. 
"But  I  hope — I  sincerely  hope  that  you  will  keep 
silent  about  what  happened — you  know.  Here  is 
the  money.  Take  it,  Rushton — and  I  hope  you  will 
not  venture  to  make  any  more  such  demands  upon 
me." 

His  voice  was  pitched  quite  low,  and  yet  Rush- 
ton  was  not  at  all' sure  that  it  was  sufficiently  so  for 
the  others  not  to  hear. 

He  took  the  money  greedily  and  thrust  it  into 
one  of  his  pockets.  Then  he  leaned  forward. 

"Oh,  I  won't  bother  you  no  more  about  this  af- 
fair," he  said  in  a  low  tone;  and  raising  his  own 
voice  a  trifle  he  added:  "This  squares  the  present 
account  to  date,  Mr.  Chester.  And  I  promise  to 
have  the  rest  of  the  work  done  without  delay." 

Then  he  went  out  of  the  bank,  and  without  a 
glance  to  the  right  or  the  left  as  he  did  so. 

The  three  men  who  had  been  in  the  president's 
office  during  the  short  interview  stepped  quickly 
forward  to  the  desk,  examined  the  receipt  which 
Rushton  had  declined  to  sign,  watched  Chester 
while  he  made  an  indorsement  on  the  back  of  it, 
after  which  all  four  placed  their  signatures  under 
that  indorsement. 

Immediately  after  that  one  of  the  three  strangers 
seated  himself  at  the  president's  desk  and  did  some 
writing  on  another  sheet  of  paper,  which  each  of 
the  four  persons  likewise  signed.  And  then  the 


206     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

official  notary  public,  who  acted  for  the  bank,  was 
summoned,  so  that  each  man  could  attest  his  own 
signature. 

Outside  the  building,  when  Rushton  stepped  from 
the  doorway  to  the  street,  there  were  three  more 
men  who  were  interested  in  his  movements. 

They  were  posted  at  three  of  the  four  corners 
of  the  two  streets;  and  it  would  have  been  appar- 
ent to  anybody  watching  them  that  they  were  thor- 
oughly versed  in  their  occupations. 

There  is  no  man  easier  to  trail  in  the  streets  of 
New  York  than  a  professional  detective. 

Besides,  it  probably  never  once  occurred  to  Rush- 
ton  that  he  was  being  trailed  that  afternoon.  Least 
of  all  would  he  have  suspected  that  the  occupants 
of  any  one  of  the  three  taxicabs  that  kept  within 
sight  of  him  for  the  next  half  hour  and  more  was 
particularly  interested  in  him. 

Nevertheless,  when  he  entered  a  bank  a  mile 
further  up-town,  and  after  making  out  a  deposit 
slip  at  one  of  the  side  desks,  took  his  place  in  the 
line  before  the  window  of  the  receiving  teller,  one 
of  those  three  men  was  directly  behind  him,  also 
with  a  bank  book  in  one  hand,  from  the  ends  of 
which  a  package  of  bills  could  be  seen  protruding. 

And  another  of  the  three  had  hurried  through 
the  bank  to  the  cashier's  desk,  while  the  third  one 
got  into  the  line  so  that  he  was  the  third  behind 
Rushton. 


A  NET  FOR  RUSHTON 207 

The  cashier  of  the  bank  discovered  (as  soon  as 
the  second  "shadow"  spoke  to  him)  that  he  had 
business  inside  of  the  receiving  teller's  cage,  and 
went  there;  and  he  was  there,  with  the  receiving 
teller  and  the  two  assistants,  at  the  moment  when 
Rushton  made  his  deposit  and  took  himself  off. 

He  was  also  there  when  the  man  behind  Rush- 
ton  pushed  his  book  through  the  window. 

That  book  contained  fifty  one-hundred-dollar 
bills;  and  after  passing  it  through  the  window  the 
man  walked  on  to  the  cashier's  department  and 
waited ;  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  cashier  joined 
him  and  gave  him  a  sealed  envelope,  which  he  car- 
ried away  with  him ;  and  the  envelope,  fastened  with 
wax,  bore  the  official  seal  of  the  bank,  with  the  at- 
tested date  and  hour  added  to  it. 

It  would  seem  that  the  net  which  Chief  Redhead 
had  thrown  around  Lieutenant  Rodney  Rushton 
that  day  was  a  strong  one,  indeed,  and  would  prove 
so  when  the  time  should  come  to  draw  it. 

An  hour  later  six  men  reported  to  their  chief  in 
the  tall  building  down-town,  and  each  party  of  three 
gave  into  his  hands  a  large  envelope  sealed  with 
wax,  stamped  with  a  bank  seal,  dated  and  attested; 
and  these  the  chief  presently  deposited  in  an  inner 
receptacle  of  a  vault-like  safe  that  was  concealed 
behind  one  of  the  walls  of  his  private  office. 

"There  wasn't  any  hitch  anywhere?"  he  asked 
of  all  of  them  generally. 


208      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Not  a  one,"  came  the  reply  from  the  foremost ; 
and  the  others  nodded  their  acquiescence  in  that 
statement. 

"This  envelope,"  one  of  the  operatives  announced, 
indicating  to  which  one  he  referred,  "contains  the 
affidavits  of  Chester,  Jocelyn,  Butler,  and  myself, 
of  all  that  occurred  at  the  Centropolis  Bank;  and 
this  one" — indicating  the  other — "holds  the  five 
marked  one-thousand-dollar  bills,  with  the  affidavits 
of  the  deposit  and  the  circumstances  of  it,  made  by 
the  two  receiving  tellers  who  saw  it,  by  the  cashier, 
and  by  Holt,  Harper,  and  Perry,  of  all  that  took 
place  at  the  other  bank.  That  is  pretty  clear  and 
clean,  isn't  it,  chief  ?" 

"It's  bully,"  was  the  hearty  response.  "Now,  I 
shall  put  both  of  these  envelopes  into  another,  larger 
one,  and  seal  it ;  and  we  will  all  make  a  short,  joint, 
sworn  statement  on  the  back  of  it.  That  will  be 
clinching  the  nails  in  Rushton's  coffin,  I  think." 

When  the  six  operatives  had  gone  the  chief 
stepped  into  a  closet  and  used  a  telephone  that  was 
there. 

"Hello,  Harvard,"  he  said  over  the  wire.  "I 
thought  I  would  call  you  up  to  tell  you  that  I  have 
got  the  goods  on  Rushton  at  last.  I  have  got  a 
trap  already  to  spring  at  any  time  we  want  to 
do  it,  and  it  will  get  him  good  and  plenty,  where 
he  can't  squirm  out.  Never  mind  what  it  is  just 


A  NET  FOR  RUSHTON 209 

now.  I  will  explain  it  all  to  you  in  due  time — 
who  did  it? 

"Oh,  your  wife  did  most  of  it,  Harvard.  She 
and  Clancy  really  did  it  together.  Surest  thing 
you  know,  Harvard.  That  wife  of  yours  is  a  won- 
der, as  you  will  discover  before  long.  What's  that? 
Found  it  out  already?  Nonsense!  You  haven't 
found  out  half  of  it  yet.  No.  Don't  stir  out  to- 
day or  to-night.  That  talk  I  had  with  you  to-day 
helped  me  a  lot.  Stick  to  that  cipher  of  Rushton's 
and  work  it  out. 

"I  think  you  can  do  it,  and  it  will,  no  doubt, 
prove  of  very  great  value  in  the  end.  All  right. 
I'll  tell  Clancy  what  you  say.  He  will  go  around  to 
see  you  as  soon  as  possible,  but  I  think  that  you 
had  better  stick  close  to  that  roof  until  to-morrow 
night,  anyhow.  Good-by." 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

WHEN    LADY    KATE    MADE   READY 

That  was  Tom  Clancy's  busy  day,  too,  and  he  gave 
very  slight  attention  to  his  own  business  affairs. 

First,  he  applied  to  the  president  of  the  Gibraltar 
Security  &  Casualty  Company  for  the  bond  which 
was  to  guarantee  the  faithful  performance  of  duty 
as  a  paying  teller,  of  one  Erin  Caton — and  because 
the  said  president  was  Clancy's  particular  friend  he 
had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  it,  particularly  after 
he  had  guaranteed  the  company  against  loss  by  a 
hypothecation  of  some  of  his  own  securities. 

Then  he  added  to  that  a  bond  over  his  own  name, 
as  he  had  promised  Chester  he  would  do,  to  satisfy 
still  further  the  directors  of  the  Centropolis  Bank ; 
and  he  prepared  the  letters  and  such  other  papers 
as  were  necessary  to  perfect  the  installation  of  the 
new  assistant  paying  teller. 

He  could  not  deny  to  himself,  all  the  time  that 
he  was  thus  engaged,  that  he  had  many  misgivings 
concerning  the  propriety  of  the  act  that  Lady  Kate 
contemplated;  but  he  went  ahead  with  it,  as  he 
always  did  with  everything  that  he  undertook  to  do. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  approximately  at  five 
o'clock,  he  sought  the  office  of  the  chief  to  tell  him 

210 


WHEN  LADY  KATE  MADE  READY       911 

that  everything  was  in  readiness,  and  that  he  had 
the  papers  in  his  pockets,  ready  to  deliver  to  Julius 
in  the  morning,  as  arranged  by  Katherine. 

The  chief  heard  him  through  without  a  smile; 
and  then  said : 

"I  think,  Clancy,  that  you  had  better  leave  those 
papers  with  me  and  let  me  meet  Black  Julius  in  the 
morning." 

"Why?"  Clancy  demanded  in  surprise. 

"Because  my  operative,  Connor,  has  told  me 
enough  of  what  they  are  up  to  over  at  the  stone 
building,  to  render  it  pretty  certain  to  my  mind 
that  you  are  not  personally  safe  for  a  minute  when 
you  are  on  the  streets." 

"Aw,  get  off  of  the  pony,  chief — it's  bucking. 
What's  the  matter  with  you?" 

"It  was  all  fixed  up  between  a  few  of  them  down 
there  to  frame  something  on  you,  Tom,  and  they  will 
do  it  if  there  is  a  ghost  of  a  chance — particularly 
since  they  have  got  onto  Connor  and  given  him  the 
cold  mitt.  His  usefulness  is  past  down  there." 

"So?    Well,  what  of  it?" 

"Simply  this :  If  they  should  pinch  you  some- 
where— even  if  it  should  be  for  only  a  short  time — 
they'd  go  through  you.  If  it  happened  to-night 
they'd  find  those  papers — and  that  would  give  the 
whole  snap  away." 

"I'd  like  to  know  what  they  could  frame  up  on 
me,  chief.  Why,  they  wouldn't  dare " 


212      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"My  dear  Tom,  they  will  dare  anything — now. 
Even  I  have  received  a  delicate  kind  of  a  warning 
in  a  left-handed  way  to-day  to  keep  my  hands  off. 
You  give  me  those  papers.  I  will  pass  them  along 
to  Julius.  Hand  them  over!" 

Clancy  did  so — reluctantly. 

"I  think  it  is  all  nonsense,"  he  said,  "but  it  is  just 
as  well  not  to  take  any  chances  when  there  is  so 
much  at  stake.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  wanted  to 
have  a  look  at  Lady  Kate  in  her  make-up  before 
she  gets  plumb  inside  of  this  job." 

"I'll  do  that.  She  called  me  on  the  telephone  an 
hour  ago.  I  have  got  an  appointment  with  her 
to-night.  If  there  is  an  opportunity  I  will  pass  the 
papers  directly  to  her  at  that  time,  instead  of  wait- 
ing to  deliver  them  to  Julius." 

"Gee !    I  wish  I  could  see  her,  too." 

"Well,  you  can't." 

"I  have  got  to  be  doing  something,  chief." 

"Then  make  yourself  busy  in  keeping  out  of  the 
clutches  of  Rushton  and  Coniglio  and  Masters. 
Those  are  the  three  men  who  are  on  your  trail. 
Walk  in  the  middle  of  the  sidewalk  when  you  are 
on  the  street,  stay  indoors  at  night,  and  keep  your 
eyes  peeled  for  a  few  days,  Clancy.  They  will  get 
you  if  you  don't." 

Tom  laughed,  shook  hands  with  the  chief,  and 
went  out. 

He  descended  in  one  of  the  express  elevators  and 


WHEN  LADY  KATE  MADE  READY       818 

spoke  to  the  man  who  operated  it,  who  had  once 
worked  in  the  building  where  he  had  his  own  office. 

That  man  remembered  that  the  time  was  five- 
forty  when  Mr.  Clancy  left  the  building. 

Outside,  he  walked  to  a  station  of  the  elevated 
road,  because  he  preferred  it  to  the  subway,  and 
it  was  just  as  convenient.  At  the  corner  where 
the  station  was  located  he  encountered  an  acquaint- 
ance, and  stood  there  talking  with  him  two  or  three 
minutes. 

That  acquaintance  happened  to  be  one  of  the 
operatives  of  Redhead's  agency,  although  the  fact 
was  unknown  to  Clancy;  and  he  saw  Tom  begin 
the  ascent  of  the  stairway  toward  the  station. 

And  right  there  Tom  Clancy  passed  out  of  sight. 

At  nine  o'clock  that  evening  the  chief  called  at 
Clancy's  house,  accompanied  by  a  gentleman  whom 
he  wished  to  introduce  to  Tom — a  man  who  bore 
the  name  of  Erin  Caton;  but  was  informed  that 
Mr.  Clancy  had  not  returned  from  his  office,  and 
had  sent  no  word  when  he  would  be  at  home. 

"It  looks  as  if  they  had  pinched  him,  in  spite  of 
my  warnings,  Mr.  Caton,"  the  chief  remarked  as 
they  turned  away  together.  "But  we  won't  have 
to  get  as  busy  as  we  did  in  your  case.  There  isn't 
quite  so  much  at  stake.  All  the  same,  I  will  have 
him  traced  from  the  time  he  left  my  office.  It 
won't  take  very  long  to  find  him." 


RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"And  in  the  mean  time "  his  companion  asked 

him. 

"In  the  mean  time  he  is  a  man,  and  it  won't  hurt 
him  to  swallow  a  little  medicine." 

"Nevertheless,  I  cannot  help  feeling  anxious  about 
him,  chief." 

"My  dear  young  man,  they  won't  hurt  him — 
that  is,  it  is  not  likely  that  they  will.  The  'System' 
is  very  anxious  to  get  him  and  a  certain  young 
woman  of  our  acquaintance  temporarily  out  of  the 
way. 

"They  won't  be  able  to  get  hold  of  the  young 
woman  now,  because  she  has  disappeared,  and  in  a 
manner  which  renders  it  utterly  impossible  for  them 
to  get  a  trace  of  her.  Clancy,  it  seems,  they  have 
got — at  least  that  is  the  way  it  looks  to  me — but 
they  won't  be  able  to  railroad  him  to  prison  with- 
out my  knowledge — they  dare  not  injure  him,  and 
it  won't  do  any  harm  to  anybody  to  let  him  rest 
for  a  while.  So,  for  the  present,  we  will  let  it  go 
at  that.  Now,  let  us  talk  about  yourself." 

"There  isn't  any  more  to  say,  is  there?" 

"Only  this,  my  dear  sir" — and  the  chief  chuckled 
— '"As  a  new  employee  at  the  bank  you  will  be 
watched  and  trailed  very  closely,  every  minute  of 
the  time  while  you  are  awake,  by  the  regular  de- 
tectives for  the  Bankers'  Association.  That  is  a 
rule  that  is  never  neglected. 

"So,   after  to-morrow   morning,   when  you   go 


there  to  work,  there  must  be  no  more  meetings 
between  us.  Neither  should  you  telephone  to  me, 
for  a  time,  at  least.  Even  letters  would  be  unsafe 
for  a  week  or  so.  Therefore,  it  looks  to  me  as  if 
you  would  have  to  play  the  game  very  much  alone." 

"And  that  is  precisely  what  I  most  desire  to  do." 

"But,  all  the  same,"  he  continued  as  if  he  had 
not  noticed  the  interruption,  "I  shall  wish  to  know 
at  once  of  anything  you  may  accomplish." 

"I  will  find  a  way  to  keep  you  informed,"  Lady 
Kate  told  him — for,  of  course,  we  know  that  the 
chief's  companion  was  Lady  Kate.  "If  I  make  a 
discovery,  which  I  think  you  ought  to  know  about 
immediately,  I  will  find  a  way  to  get  the  informa- 
tion to  you." 

"Very  well.  I  will  leave  it  to  you.  Now,  one 
other  point  and  we  will  part.  What  have  you  de- 
cided to  do  with  Black  Julius  during  the  time  you 
are  located  at  the  bank?  You  understand,  of 
course,  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  keep  him  about 
you?" 

"Naturally.  I  shall  send  him  to  his  brother,  over 
in  Jersey.  He  has  a  brother  over  there  who  prac- 
tises medicine  during  the  week  and  is  a  minister  on 
Sundays." 

"Julius  is  devoted  to  Mr.  Harvard,  is  he  not?" 

"Absolutely  so." 

"Then  I  will  suggest  that  you  write  a  letter  to 
your  husband  to-night,  which  you  will  give  to  Julius 


216      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

to  deliver.  Julius  will  come  to  me,  and  I  will  show 
him  how  to  deliver  it.  In  that  letter  you  should 
explain  to  Mr.  Harvard  that  you  are  going  to  keep 
very  quiet,  and  also  very  much  in  one  place,  for  a 
time,  and  that  you  will  have  no  need  of  the  services 
of  the  negro.  I  think  that  Harvard  and  myself 
— and  possibly  Clancy,  if  we  find  out  what  has  hap- 
pened to  him — can  make  good  use  of  Julius  and  his 
car." 

"Very  well — that  is  understood,  then.  I  shall 
live  in  a  boarding-house  in  Twenty-first  Street," 
she  replied,  giving  the  number.  "I  doubt  if  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  go  out  at  all,  after  dinner  in  the 
evening.  If  you  have  women  operatives  you  might 
send  one  of  them  to  call  upon  me  from  time  to 
time." 

With  that  understanding  they  parted. 

But  the  chief  turned  after  he  had  taken  a  few 
steps  and  stood  watching  Katherine  as  she  swung 
along  the  street  with  the  assured  stride  of  a  man 
whose  years  have  accumulated  a  sufficient  number 
to  give  him  supreme  confidence  in  his  ability  to  face 
the  world. 

Her  disguise  was  perfect,  and  the  chief  nodded 
his  approval  several  times  while  he  watched  her. 

Truth  to  tell  he  had  until  he  saw  her  that  night, 
doubted  her  ability  to  make  the  disguise  sufficiently 
perfect  to  warrant  the  undertaking  which  she  had 


WHEN  LADY  KATE  MADE  READY       217 

set  herself  to  do;  but  the  moment  he  did  see  her  he 
was  satisfied. 

Katherine  had  not  made  the  mistake  of  attempt- 
ing to  pose  as  a  very  young  man.  She  had  adopted 
the  middle  course — that  of  a  man  nearing  middle 
life,  who  still  had  the  appearance  of  youth  in  his 
face. 

And  she  neither  wore  a  wig  nor  attempted  to  dye 
her  own  hair — unless  a  partial  process  of  bleaching 
could  be  called  dyeing  it. 

Directly  over  the  temples  she  had  bleached  it 
white. 

Above  her  forehead,  where  she  brushed  it 
straight  back  after  parting  it  well  down  on  the  side, 
it  was  also  white.  Spectacles,  rimmed  with  tortoise- 
shell,  altered,  very  considerably,  the  expression  ami 
naturalness  of  her  eyes. 

A  very  delicate,  blue-black  stain,  lightly  painted 
upon  her  cheeks  and  jaw  and  chin  and  upper  lip, 
and  put  on  with  studied  care,  gave  her  face  the  ap- 
pearance of  having  been  shaved  clean  and  close  just 
a  little  while  before.  Her  ears,  fortunately,  had 
never  been  pierced  for  ornamentation. 

She  wore  a  loose-fitting  sack-suit  of  tweeds,  well 
padded  at  the  shoulders,  and  inside  the  shoes,  which 
made  her  feet  appear  to  be  two  or  three  sizes  larger 
than  they  really  were,  she  wore  a  pair  of  heelless 
house-slippers,  from  which  she  had  cut  most  of 
the  tops  away. 


g!8     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

A  brown  fedora  hat,  gloves,  a  cane,  a  striped 
shirt,  and  an  unostentatious  tie  completed  her  out- 
ward appearance. 

Katherine  was  a  good  actress,  too. 

There  was  nothing  about  her  carriage  or  walk  or 
in  any  of  her  motions  to  suggest  that  she  was  other- 
wise than  what  she  appeared  to  be — a  man  who 
might  be  anywhere  in  the  thirties,  but  who  looked 
even  younger  than  that,  despite  his  gray  hairs. 

He  was  somewhat  anemic  and  delicate  from  lead- 
ing too  much  of  an  indoor  life,  and  who  was  very 
slightly  deformed,  having  the  suggestion  of  the 
beginning  of  a  hump  on  his  back,  between  the 
shoulders,  and  being  just  a  trifle  chicken-breasted, 
to  offset  it. 

"She  will  do,"  was  the  mental  comment  of  the 
chief  as  he  watched  her  go.  "She  would  have  been 
able  to  fool  me,  or  anybody  else  who  was  not  look- 
ing for  a  deception;  and  nobody  will  be  expecting 
that — down  at  the  bank.  Her  voice  is  all  right, 
her  motions  are  as  correct  as  could  be,  her  walk  is 
perfect.  She  will  win  out,  too!" 

He  turned  away  to  start  on  again,  and  was 
startled  into  an  exclamation  of  surprise  when  he 
discovered  Bingham  Harvard  standing  directly  in 
his  path,  and  only  a  few  paces  away — and  the 
Night  Wind  seemed  to  have  been  waiting  for  him 
to  turn  around. 


WHEN  LADY  KATE  MADE  READY       819 

"Hello,  chief?"  he  said,  smiling.  "Who  is  your 
friend?" 

For  once  in  his  career  the  chief  of  the  "best  de- 
tective agency  in  the  world"  was  thoroughly  non- 
plused. He  did  not  know  how  to  reply,  for  he 
could  not  tell  whether  Harvard  had  recognized  his 
own  wife  or  not 


CHAPTER   XXI\ 

THE   NIGHT   WIND'S   CLOSEST    CALL 

Fortunately,  perhaps,  for  all  concerned,  the 
Night  Wind  did  not  wait  for  a  reply  to  his  question, 
which  had  little  interest  for  him. 

He  had  merely  observed  that  another  man — one 
of  small  stature — was  with  the  chief,  and  he  had 
waited  in  an  areaway,  out  of  sight,  until  the  chief 
was  alone. 

"I  am  on  my  way  to  pay  a  call,"  he  announced 
smilingly.  "Save  for  your  call  upon  me  to-day,  I 
have  slept  the  clock  pretty  nearly  around.  I  am 
going  to  see  Atkinson.  He  is  the  teller  now,  you 
know.  He  used  to  be  my  assistant." 

"Where  does  he  live?  Near  here?"  the  chief 
asked. 

"No.  In  the  lower  edge  of  Harlem — a  couple  of 
miles  north  of  where  we  are  now.  But  the  walking 
is  good  and  I  like  it." 

"Isn't  it  rather  late  to  make  such  a  call,  Harvard  ? 
And  isn't  it  risky,  too?" 

220 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  CLOSEST  CALL   221 

"It  isn't  late,  because  I  happen  to  know  some- 
thing of  Atkinson's  habits.  His  mother  and  old 
maid  sister  will  have  gone  to  bed,  and  he  will  be 
working  out  mathematical  problems  in  the  back 
parlor  of  the  old  frame  house  where  they  live. 
That's  his  hobby — mathematical  problems.  As  for 
the  risk,  I  don't  see  that  there  is  any  in  this  visit." 

"Why  are  you  going  there,  Harvard?"  the  chief 
asked. 

"Because  I  intend  to  make  a  call  upon  each  one 
of  that  bunch  who  were  so  ready  to  believe  that  I 
stole  that  money,  and  I  thought  I'd  tackle  Atkin- 
son first.  By  the  way,  have  you  seen  anything  of 
Tom?" 

"He  called  at  my  office  about  five,"  was  the  eva- 
sive reply.  "I  have  just  been  to  his  house,  but  he 
isn't  home  yet." 

"No?  That's  funny.  Well — there  comes  a  cop, 
chief.  Good  night." 

The  Night  Wind  wheeled  in  his  tracks  and  was 
gone. 

Thirty  minutes  later  he  pulled  the  knob  of  the 
old-fashioned  door-bell  at  the  frame  house  in  Har- 
lem where  James  Atkinson  lived. 

When  the  door  was  partly  opened  after  a  slight 
delay,  Harvard  stepped  forward  quickly,  pushed  it 
wider  open  and  stepped  into  the  lighted  hall  before 
the  man  inside  could  do  aught  to  prevent  the  act; 
and  at  the  same  time  he  observed  in  the  most  casual 


222      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

manner,  as  if  it  had  been  his  nightly  habit  to  make 
just  such  calls: 

"How  are  you,  Jim?  I  thought  I  would  drop 
around  and  have  a  chat  with  you." 

Atkinson  was  made  of  different  stuff  from  most 
men. 

At  the  bank  he  was  surreptitiously  known  as 
"Frozen- face" ;  and  for  all  the  emotion  it  ever  ex- 
pressed, the  cognomen  was  quite  apt. 

Beyond  a  slight  but  sharp  intake  of  his  breath 
when  he  heard  Harvard's  voice  and  saw  his  face,  he 
manifested  no  surprise  at  the  presence  of  his  for- 
mer chief. 

"Come  in,"  he  said,  without  expression;  and, 
turning,  he  led  the  way  through  the  hall,  leaving 
Harvard  to  close  the  door. 

Bing  followed  him  very  quickly,  for  all  that.  He 
was  not  entirely  sure  that  Atkinson  was  alone,  al- 
though there  was  no  other  person  present  when  they 
entered  the  back  parlor. 

There,  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  was  a  low  table 
littered  with  pads  and  torn  sheets  of  paper  cov- 
ered with  figures,  where  Atkinson  found  his  chief- 
est  joys — or  said  that  he  did. 

It  all  looked  as  if  Atkinson  had  been  busily  en- 
gaged with  his  problems  when  he  had  heard  the 
door-bell;  and  yet  Harvard  had  the  uneasy  sensa- 
tion that  another  person  had  been  present  in  that 
room  at  the  time. 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  CLOSEST  CALL   223 

Besides,  there  was  the  taint  of  cigar  smoke  in 
the  air,  and  Harvard  knew  that  his  former  asso- 
ciate did  not  smoke — unless  he  had  acquired  the 
habit  within  the  last  year. 

Atkinson  had  not  offered  Harvard  his  hand;  he 
did  not  do  so  then.  Nor  did  he  extend  the  cour- 
tesy of  saying,  "Sit  down,  won't  you?"  or  words 
to  that  effect.  He  merely  dropped  upon  a  chair 
himself,  and  said,  in  his  usual  colorless  tones : 

"Well,  Harvard,  what  do  you  want  of  me?" 

Bing  crossed  the  room  and  turned  about  so  that 
he  would  command  a  view  of  the  entire  room  and 
its  entrances  before  he  replied.  Even  then  he  did 
not  sit  down. 

He  had  the  feeling — without  in  the  least  knowing 
why  he  had  it — that  another  pair  of  ears  than  theirs 
would  be  able  to  hear  what  was  said  in  that  room. 

"I  don't  know  whether  Ben  Mordaunt  has  told 
you  or  not  that  I  saw  him  this  morning,  Atkinson," 
he  said.  "I  came  here  to  ask  you  if  you  believe 
that  /  took  that  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand 
dollars.  But  since  your  question  to  me,  and  the 
manner  of  it,  I  don't  have  to  ask." 

Atkinson  shrugged  his  shoulders  without  reply- 
ing; and  Harvard,  studying  him  with  narrowed 
eyes,  and  bending  slightly  forward,  said  slowly, 
more  to  himself  than  to  the  other  man : 

"I  wonder,  Atkinson,  after  all,  if  you  stole  it?" 

It  was  established  then  that  Atkinson  could  be 


RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

roused  out  of  that  frozen  calm,  which  was,  after 
all,  a  pose. 

He  started  to  his  feet,  fury  expressed  in  his  eyes 
and  upon  his  features.  His  lips  parted,  but  he  did 
not  speak.  Evidently  he  thought  better  of  what 
he  was  on  the  point  of  saying. 

Doubtless  he  suddenly  recalled  some  of  the  start- 
ling feats  of  amazing  strength  that  this  man  who 
faced  him  had  performed.  But  he  remained  stand- 
ing, and  for  a  moment  the  two  men  eyed  each  other 
in  silence.  Then: 

"I  wish,  Harvard,  that  you  would  go  away,"  At- 
kinson said. 

"I  think,  first,  that  I  will,  after  all,  insist  upon  an 
answer  to  the  question  I  came  here  to  ask  of  you," 
Bing  replied.  "Do  you  believe  that  I  am  guilty  of 
that  theft?" 

"There  was  evidence  enough  to  convince  any- 
body, wasn't  there?" 

"That  is  not  an  answer." 

"Would  you  have  acted  as  you  have  done  if  you 
had  been  an  innocent  man?" 

"Neither  is  that  an  answer." 

"What  more  do  you  want,  I'd  like  to  know?" 

"Do  you  believe  that  I  took  that  money,  Jim 
Atkinson  ?" 

"Yes." 

"Since  when  have  you  believed  that?" 

"From  the  first  moment  after  the  packages  were 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  CLOSEST  CALL   225 

missed;  from  the  moment  that  you  discovered  the 
loss,  if  you  must  know." 

"Since  before  the  time  when  Rushton  supplied 
the  supposed  evidence  that  I  did  take  it?" 

"As  far  as  that  is  concerned,  I  do  not  know  to 
this  day  what  that  evidence  was — only  in  a  general 
way.  The  old  man  has  never  told  exactly  what  it 
was,  more  than  in  a  general  way,  and  that  it  satis- 
fied him.  But " 

"Go  on,  Atkinson." 

"Well,  I  have  never  thought  that  Mordaunt  took 
it;  I  know  that  /  did  not:  and  therefore  it  is  quite 
apparent  that  you  did.  You  are  the  only  one  who 
could  have  stolen  it,  if  we  did  not.  It  was  you  who 
discovered  the  loss.  When  you  did  discover  it  you 
said  nothing  to  Mordaunt  or  to  me,  but  instead  you 
went  straight  to  Cheever,  and  with  him  to  old  Ches- 
ter himself  to  report  it. 

"That  showed  that  you  were — 'then — quite  wil- 
ling to  make  it  appear  that  one  of  us  had  taken  it. 
It  is  a  lot  more  logical  for  me  to  believe  that  you 
are  guilty,  now,  than  for  you  to  have  thought,  then, 
that  either  Mordaunt  or  I  was  the  thief." 

It  was  a  long  statement  for  Atkinson  to  make. 
He  was  not  given  to  them.  Still,  Harvard  believed 
that  he  should  justify  his  acts  that  Atkinson  had 
mentioned.  He  passed  a  hand  wearily  across  his 
brow  and  said : 

"It  did  not  occur  to  me  then  that  the  money  had 


226      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

been  stolen.  I  thought  that  it  had  been  mislaid,  or 
that  an  error  had  been  made." 

Atkinson  shrugged  his  shoulders  in  a  gesture 
which  said  as  plainly  as  words  could  have  done  it: 
"You  are  lying  now." 

Harvard  flushed  under  the  wordless  taunt. 

"Jim  Atkinson,"  he  said  slowly,  "if  I  did  not 
know  that  it  was  next  to  the  impossible  for  you 
to  have  made  away  with  those  packages  of  bills,  I 
should  be  of  the  opinion,  after  your  words  and 
manner  to-night,  that  you  are  the  thief." 

He  had  taken  a  step  nearer  to  Atkinson  while 
he  was  speaking.  Inadvertently  he  had  turned  his 
back  toward  the  portieres  which  were  draped  over 
the  wide  doorway  between  that  room  and  the  par- 
lor in  front  of  it. 

He  had  forgotten  for  the  moment  his  sensation 
that  he  and  Atkinson  were  not  alone. 

But  something  in  the  expression  of  Atkinson's 
eyes  made  him  turn,  and  he  did  so  just  as  the  huge 
bulk  of  a  man  of  great  size  and  weight  came  upon 
him  with  a  rush  and  seized  him  with  both  arms 
around  his  body,  holding  him  helpless  for  the  brief- 
est instant. 

Even  in  that  instant  Harvard  recognized  the  man, 
although  he  had  never  before  seen  him  without  his 
uniform  of  gray. 

He  knew  that  it  was  Badger,  the  giant  watchman 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  CLOSEST  CALL  227 

at  the  bank,  who  was  supposed  to  be  a  Goliath  in 
strength  as  well  as  in  stature. 

Never,  in  all  of  Harvard's  experiences,  had  he 
stood  more  in  need  of  his  own  great  powers  of 
muscle  and  physique  than  then,  for  the  man  who 
opposed  him  and  who  now  attacked  him  so  viciously 
stood  five  inches  more  than  six  feet  tall,  was  built 
in  proportion,  and  boasted  that  he  carried  not  an 
ounce  of  superfluous  flesh. 

He  was  the  guard  outside  the  screen  at  the  bank. 

His  huge  arms,  like  the  legs  of  an  ordinary  man, 
wrapped  themselves  around  Harvard  in  a  grip  that 
made  him  think  of  a  steamboat  hawser  around  a 
snubbing  post. 

And  even  as  the  grip  tightened  he  heard  Badger 
call  out  to  Atkinson: 

"Use  your  telephone,  Jim,  and  call  the  police. 
I'll  hold  this  guy.  He  can't  get  away  from  me." 

Could  he  not  ? 

That  boast  of  Badger's  galvanized  and  electrified 
every  muscle  and  nerve  that  Bing  Harvard  pos- 
sessed. 

His  arms,  held  helplessly  at  his  sides  for  an  in- 
stant, began  to  swell  with  the  strength  that  he 
forced  into  them.  They  twisted  and  writhed  be- 
neath the  pressure  that  the  giant  forced  down  upon 
them. 

He  brought  his  hands  up  slowly  but  surely  behind 
Badger's  back  until  he  could  lock  them  together, 


228     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

and  then  he  squeezed  with  all  his  strength,  at  the 
same  moment  lifting  one  of  his  feet  and  bringing 
his  heel  down  heavily  upon  Badger's  toes. 

The  shock  was  sudden  and  unexpected. 

For  the  briefest  fraction  of  an  instant  Badger's 
hold  around  Harvard's  body  relaxed  with  the  pain 
of  it;  and  in  that  instant  Harvard  jerked  one  of  his 
own  arms  so  nearly  free  that  he  was  able  to  reach 
upward,  around  the  watchman's  shoulder,  and  to 
get  the  palm  of  his  right  hand  beneath  Badger's 
chin. 

The  advantage  of  the  "hold"  was  now  trans- 
ferred to  Harvard,  and  he  forced  the  giant's  chin 
upward  and  his  head  backward  until  he  could  feel 
the  arms  that  were  around  him  relaxing;  and  then, 
with  a  dexterous  twist  of  a  leg,  Harvard  tripped 
him. 

The  crash  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  and 
one  hundred  and  eighty  odd  falling  to  the  floor  to- 
gether was  some  crash ;  but  the  hundred  and  eighty 
were  on  top. 

Harvard,  by  main  strength,  forced  his  own  body 
upward  and  backward  out  of  the  grip  of  Badger, 
and  he  sprang  to  his  feet  just  as  Atkinson  rushed 
forward  toward  them  from  the  telephone  to  take  a 
hand  in  the  struggle. 

Harvard  laughed  in  his  face.  It  was  an  unplea- 
sant and  a  dangerous  laugh,  too,  and  Atkinson 
stopped;  and  Harvard  sprang  past  him,  darted 


THE  NIGHT  WIND'S  CLOSEST  CALL 

through  the  hallway,  and  passed  outside  into  the 
street. 

Then,  as  he  went  swiftly  away,  he  thought,  in 
unuttered  words : 

"That  was  about  the  closest  call  I  have  had  yet!" 


CHAPTER  XXV 
THE  "SOCIETY  OF   CRIPPLED   COPS" 

In  the  mean  time,  it  is  quite  necessary  for  the 
proper  working  out  of  the  involved  problems  that 
we  should  know  something  about  the  things  that 
happened  to  Tom  Clancy  after  he  had  left  the  office 
of  the  chief  in  that  tall  downtown  building,  shortly 
after  five  o'clock  that  same  afternoon. 

For  it  was  the  ultimate  focusing  of  the  events  of 
the  twenty-four  hours  which  began  with  the  libera- 
tion of  Lady  Kate  from  the  jail  in  Queens  that 
finally  uncovered  the  trail  of  the  real  thief. 

Tom  exchanged  greeting  with  the  man  in  the 
elevator,  and  spoke  to  his  acquaintance  at  the  cor- 
ner near  the  stairs  to  the  "L"  road. 

Two  or  three  moments  later,  as  he  stepped  past 
the  box  of  the  ticket-chopper,  he  heard  his  name 
spoken. 

"This  is  Mr.  Clancy,  ain't  it?"  was  the  inquiry; 
and  Tom  nodded,  not  recognizing  the  man  who  ad- 
dressed him,  although  the  features  were  oddly 
familiar. 

230 


THE  "SOCIETY  OF  CRIPPLED  COPS"  231 

"You've  got  me  guessing,"  he  said.  "Who  are 
you?" 

The  man  chuckled.  "I  have  shaved  off  my  mus- 
tache, and  I'm  without  a  uniform,"  he  said.  "I 
guess  that's  why  you  don't  know  me.  I'm  off  the 
force,  Mr.  Clancy.  I  handed  in  my  shield  to-day." 

"Still,  I  do  not  seem  to  remember  you,"  Tom 
said,  and  turned  toward  the  train  that  was  pulling 
in  at  the  station. 

"Wait  for  the  next  train,  Mr.  Clancy,"  the  man 
suggested.  "There  is  something  that  I  want  to 
say  to  you — if  you  will  let  me.  My  name  is  Comp- 
ton.  The  first  time  I  ever  saw  you  was  also  the 
first  time  that  I  ever  saw  the  Night  Wind;  and 
that  was  nearly  a  year  ago.  Got  me  now?" 

"Sure,"  said  Tom,  laughing.  "Speaking  of  the 
Night  Wind,  didn't  he  take  you  out  to  the  Bronx 
somewhere,  and  drop  you,  a  night  or  so  ago?" 

"He  did,  sir.  That  is  why  I  handed  in  my  shield 
to-day.  I'd  have  been  called  up  for  trial  and  I'd 
have  got  the  worst  of  it,  so  I  thought  I'd  just  get 
out.  I'm  a  joiner  by  trade,  and  a  good  one.  I  can 
easily  get  all  the  work  I  want.  Why,  I  helped  to  do 
the  inside  work  of  that  very  bank  where  the  Night 
Wind  used  to  be  teller;  only  that  was  nearly  ten 
years  ago." 

They  had  withdrawn  to  the  platform  rail.  Tom 
leaned  his  elbows  upon  it.  Compton  stood  facing 
him. 


S32     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"What  is  it  that  you  wished  to  say  to  me,  Comp- 
ton?"  Clancy  asked. 

The  ex-policeman  glanced  warily  around  him 
before  he  replied.  Then  he  said : 

"This  a'in't  just  exactly  the  place  to  talk  about  it, 
Mr.  Clancy;  but — say!  Have  you  got  any  idea 
how  many  cops  Bingham  Harvard  has  put  out  of 
business  since  he  has  been  'Alias  the  Night  Wind'  ? 
Of  course,  he  ain't  hurt  nobody  since  he  got  back; 
but  I  mean  before  he  went  away?" 

"There  ought  to  be  quite  a  bunch  of  them,"  Tom 
replied,  smiling  with  amusement. 

"There  are  between  twenty  and  thirty,  counting 
in  Brooklyn  and  the  Bronx.  I've  got  a  full  list  of 
them  at  home,  but  that  is  a  close  estimate." 

"Well,  what  of  it?  What  about  it,  Compton?" 
"That's  what  I  wanted  to  talk  to  you  about.  A 
lot  of  them  guys  got  together  about  a  week  ago, 
when  they  heard  that  Lady  Kate  was  back  agc*in, 
and  before  they  knew  that  he  was;  and — this  is 
what  I'm  gettin'  at — they  have  formed  an  associa- 
tion. We  thought- 
Tom  Clancy  interrupted  Compton  by  laughing 
aloud  and  with  hearty  amusement;  and  the  ex- 
policeman,  after  watching  him  a  moment,  laughed 
also,  although  he  remarked,  a  trifle  testily: 

"Maybe  it  is  funny — only  we  didn't  see  it  in  just 
that  way.  Maybe  you  remember  who  Lieutenant 
Banta  is — or  was.  Do  you?" 


THE  "SOCIETY  OF  CRIPPLED  COPS"  238 

"Yes.  He  was  one  of  the  three  who  made  that 
first  attempt  to  arrest  Harvard  at  Chester's  house 
when  he  was  first  charged  with  the  theft.  Banta 
was  with  Rushton  and  Coniglio.  -'What  about 
him?" 

"He  is  off  the  force,  too — same  as  I  am.  And 
he  is  the  one  who  suggested  organizing  this  asso- 
ciation." 

"The  Society  of  Crippled  Cops!"  Clancy  ex- 
claimed, laughing  again.  "Is  that  what  you  call  it, 
Compton — 'The  Society  of  Crippled  Cops'?"  and 
he  laughed  again. 

"No,  it  ain't.  But  it  wouldn't  be  no  lie  at  that. 
But,  say,  Mr.  Clancy,  this  ain't  no  joke  that  I'm 
talkin'  about.  I  want  to  tell  you  right  now,  straight 
off  of  the  reel,  that  Banta  is  as  square  as  they  make 
'em,  that  he  ain't  got  no  use  and  never  had  any  for 
any  sort  of  a  frame-up,  and  that  he  has  just  about 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  case  against  the  Night 
Wind  was  a  frame-up.  And  that's  why  he  got 
the  bunch  together  that  has  felt  the  weight  of  the 
Night  Wind's  hand.  And  you  can  just  understand 
one  thing  about  it,  too,  which  is,  that  Banta  hasn't 
included  all  of  them — not  by  a  long  shot! 

"Rushton  ain't  in  it,  and  Coniglio  ain't  in  it,  and 
there  are  a  few  others  that  ain't  in  it;  and  I  only 
got  into  it  myself  since  his  nibs  took  me  out  to  the 
Bronx  and  dropped  me.  And  that  society  that  you 
make  such  fun  of  ain't  out  for  the  Night  Wind's 


284     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

gore,  either — it  is  out  for  the  purpose  of  helping 
him  to  square  himself. 

"That's  what!  And  in  helping  him  to  square 
himself  that* bunch  of  cops  and  ex-cops  means  to 
square  themselves  at  the  same  time.  And  they 
ain't  doing  it  for  any  particular  love  that  they  feel 
for  the  Night  Wind,  either,  but  for  the  love  that 
they  do  feel  for  the  whole  blooming  police  force  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  which  is  'in'  mighty  bad 
because  of  this  business. 

"They  just  want  to  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of 
everybody  that  the  dishonest  cop  is  an  exception, 
and  that  ninety-eight  or  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of 
the  police  force  is  as  fine  a  lot  of  men  as  ever 
walked  a  street  or  wore  a  uniform.  And  you  can 
put  that  into  your  pipe  and  smoke  it,  Mr.  Clancy !" 

Compton  had  talked  so  rapidly  and  so  excitedly, 
but,  more  than  all  else,  with  such  genuine  earnest- 
ness, that  Tom  Clancy's  laughter  stopped,  thq  smile 
faded  from  his  lips,  and  he  bent  forward  to  listen 
to  every  word  that  the  ex-policeman  uttered. 

It  was  almost  unbelievable ;  and  yet  Clancy  sensed 
the  truth  of  it  all. 

"Look  here,  Compton,"  he  said  soberly  at  the 
close  of  the  statement,  "I  would  like  to  see  that 
man  Banta  and  have  a  talk  with  him. 

"That  is  exactly  why  I  wigwagged  you,  Mr. 
Clancy.  I  thought  maybe  you'd  like  to  do  that 
very  thing." 


THE  "SOCIETY  OF  CRIPPLED  COPS"  235 

"Car.  I  see  him?" 

"Surest  thing  you  know,  sir." 

"When?" 

"To-night — within  a  few  hours — if  you  want  to 
go  with  me  to  do  it." 

"Where?" 

"There  is  to  be  a  meeting  to-night  of  part  of  us 
— as  many  as  can  get  there.  I  ain't  at  liberty  to 
tell  you  just  where  it's  at,  but  you'll  find  out  when 
you  get  there.  We  will  have  about  a  dozen  of  us 
present,  I  guess.  Are  you  on?" 

"Am  I  on?  You  bet  your  sweet  life  I'm  on, 
Compton.  I  wouldn't  miss  it  for  a  farm.  And, 
say,  I  want  to  shake  hands  with  you."  Then  he 
hesitated  a  moment  and  added:  "But  what  I  can- 
not understand  is  this — just  why  the  very  chaps 
that*  Harvard  has  laid  up  or  maimed  or  put  down 
and  out  should  be  the  ones  to  do  this  thing.  I'm 
not  onto  those  curves;  not  yet." 

"Maybe  there  are  a  lot  of  reasons,  when  all  is 
said,  Mr.  Clancy,"  Compton  replied  a  trifle  thought- 
fully. "Lieutenant  Banta  says  that  we  all  ought 
to  be  thankful  that  the  Night  Wind  didn't  lay  us 
out  cold  when  he  had  a  chance,  considering  the  fact 
that  it  was  us  that  always  tackled  him,  and  that  he 
never  lit  into  any  of  us  at  the  start. 

"He  says,  too,  that  there  are  about  nine  chances 
out  of  ten  that  the  Night  Wind  is  innocent,  because 
he  claims  that  no  guilty  man  has  ever  acted  just 


236      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

as  he  has  done.  And  he  says  that  Rushton  is  a 
crook,  anyhow,  and  Banta  knows  it,  althpugh  he 
can't  prove  it.  But  the  whole  bunch  of  reasons 
boiled  down  into  one  is  this — that  the  honest  cops 
want  to  square  themselves,  and  they  want  to  make 
it  so  uncomfortable  for  the  dwhonest  ones  that 
they'll  get  off  the  force.  And  there  you  are,  Mr. 
Clancy." 

"That's  bully,  Compton — perfectly  bully.  Here 
comes  another  train.  Shall  we  take  it?" 

"Not  if  you're  going  with  me,  sir.  We  will  go 
in  another  direction.  I  only  chased  you  up  the 
stairs  to  tell  you  all  of  this." 

"Which  way,  then?" 

"We  will  take  a  surface  car  across  the  bridge  and 
walk  a  little  ways  after  we  get  to  the  other  end  of 
it  But  there's  a  couple  of  hours  yet  before  we  get 
together." 

"Good.  Then  we  will  go  somewhere  and  have 
dinner.  Do  the  others  know  that  you  are  to  take 
me  to  their  meeting?"  he  asked  as  they  descended 
the  stairway  to  the  street. 

"Nope.  The  idea  has  been  suggested,  but  was 
never  acted  upon,"  Compton  replied.  "What  they 
would  like  to  do  would  be  to  have  the  Night  Wind 
himself  show  up  at  one  of  their  confabs.  And  that 
is  what  I  thought  that  maybe  you  could  arrange 
when  I  made  up  my  mind  all  in  a  minute  to  tackle 
you." 


THE  "SOCIETY  OF  CRIPPLED  COPS"  S3T 

"Eh?  Harvard  himself?"  Clancy  stopped  stock- 
still  in  the  middle  of  the  sidewalk.  "Why  not?"  he 
added. 

Then  he  turned  and  faced  Compton,  and  there 
was  a  dangerous  look  in  his  eyes  as  he  said  slowly : 
"Compton,  if  there  is  anything  like  a  trap  to  catch 
him  about  this  business  I  know  that  I  will  live  long 
enough  to  kill  you  for  it.  I  know  it." 

Compton  smiled  reassuringly. 

"I  have  been  wondering  why  you  didn't  raise 
that  objection,  Mr.  Clancy.  It  is  the  most  natural 
one  in  the  world  under  the  circumstances,  and  you 
haven't  got  anything  but  my  word  to  go  on.  But 
you  ain't  nobody's  fool,  and  if  you'll  just  look  me 
straight  in  the  eyes  while  I'm  sayin'  all  this  I  guess 
you'll  believe  me." 

Clancy  did  stare  into  Compton's  eyes  for  several 
seconds ;  then  he  said  : 

"You  go  ahead  over  to  Brooklyn,  Compton. 
Wait  for  me  in  the  office  at  the  Clarendon  Hotel. 
We  will  eat  there.  I  will  be  there  inside  an  hour 
and  a  half."  And  he  turned  and  ran  back  to  the 
elevated  station,  leaving  Compton  gaping  after 
him. 

He  rode  only  a  few  stations.  When  he  descended 
he  speedily  found  a  "vacant"  taxicab,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  abandoned  it  in  the  middle  of  a  block 
where  he  ordered  the  driver  to  wait. 

Ten  minutes  after  that  he  entered  the  door  of  the 


238     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"little  house  on  the  roof,"  where  he  had  hoped  to 
find  Bingham  Harvard. 

But  Harvard  was  not  there.  As  it  happened,  he 
had  gone  out  into  the  streets  only  a  short  time  be- 
fore Clancy  arrived,  and  there  was  no  telling  where 
he  had  gone  nor  when  he  might  return.  So  Clancy 
seized  upon  a  sheet  of  paper  and  wrote: 

DEAR  BING : 

If  you  see  this  in  time  meet  me  exactly  at  mid- 
night, at  the  corner  of  Congress  and  Adams  Streets, 
in  Brooklyn.  If  I  am  not  there  in  fifteen  minutes, 
don't  wait.  It  may  be  important  and  it  may  not. 
If  I  think  I  am  followed  I  won't  show  up.  A  new 
wrinkle  has  developed.  It  looks  all  right,  but  it 
may  be  a  plant. 

TOM. 

He  found  Compton  awaiting  him  at  the  Claren- 
don when  ho  got  there,  and  they  went  into  the 
cafe  for  dinner. 

"Is  that  meeting-place  of  the  Crippled  Cops  any- 
where near  here?"  he  asked  while  they  were  at 
table. 

"Yes,"  Compton  replied.  "It  is  between  here 
and  Fulton  Ferry;  and  that  is  all  I  can  tell  you  at 
the  present  time.  Banta  will  tell  you  everything 
»bout  it  when  you  get  together." 

There  was  little  more  said  between  them  until 


THE  "SOCIETY  OF  CRIPPLED  COPS"  239 

> 

they  left  the  table  and  started  for  the  outer  door; 
but  then  Clancy  remarked  soberly : 

"Compton,  I'm  trusting  you  a  whole  lot  if  any- 
body should  ask  you.  I  have  sent  word  to  the 
Night  Wind  since  our  talk.  Maybe  I  will  see  my 
way  clear  to  bring  you  together.  I  don't  know  yet. 
But — if  any  funny  business  develops,  that  society 
of  Crippled  Cops  will  be  a  society  of  dead  ones  be- 
fore we  are  through  with  you." 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

FOR    THE    HONOR    OF    THE    SERVICE 

"I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  stroll  slowly  down  the 
street  while  I  skip  on  ahead  and  let  the  bunch  know 
who's  coming,"  Compton  remarked  before  they  had 
traversed  a  block  together.  "What  do  you  say 
to  that?" 

"You  are  asking  me  to  put  a  heap  of  trust  m  you, 
Compton,"  Clancy  replied  slowly;  "but  I  dort't 
think  anybody  would  want  me  for  anything — and, 
besides,  I'm  taking  chances  to-night.  Go  ahead. 
As  long  as  I  am  in  the  game  I'll  play  the  limit." 

"Keep  straight  ahead  on  this  side  of  the  street 
until  I  meet  you,  if  it  takes  you  all  the  way  to  the 
old  ferry,"  Compton  called  back  as  he  started. 

But  Clancy  had  not  gone  more  than  half  that 
distance  when  he  saw  Compton  returning;  and  he 
was  all  eagerness  when  they  met. 

"It's  all  right,"  he  said.  "Banta  is  there,  and 
he's  mighty  glad  you  are  coming.  He  says  it'll  be 
the  first  chance  he  has  had  to  put  himself  right — 
though  just  what  he  means  by  that  I  don't  know. 
It  is  only  a  little  way  farther  now." 

240 


FOR  THE  HONOR  OF  THE  SERVICE    24.1 

"Did  you  tell  Banta  what  I  told  you  about  the 
Night  Wind — that  I  had  sent  word  to  him?"  Tom 
asked. 

"No.  I  thought  I  would  leave  that  to  you.  You 
can  suggest  it  or  not,  as  you  choose,  after  you  have 
seen  enough  of  the  bunch  to  satisfy  yourself  that 
we  are  on  the  level.  You  can  bet  your  bottom  dol- 
lar that  /  am  on  the  level,  Mr.  Clancy." 

"I  somehow  believe  that,  Compton,  although  I 
do  not  see  exactly  why  I  should  do  so,  at  that. 
Hello!  Is  this  the  place?" 

"Yes.  Up  two  flights.  Denton,  one  of  the 
Brooklyn  cops — the  Night  Wind  busted  an  arm  for 
him  once — lives  here.  He  hasn't  got  any  family — 
only  a  brother  who  works  nights  in  the  composing- 
room  of  a  newspaper;  and  they  keep  house  for 
themselves  and  get  their  grub  outside,  I  guess." 

It  was  one  of  the  old-fashioned  three-story  brick 
houses  which  may  still  be  seen  in  the  lower  part  of 
Fulton  Street,  Brooklyn. 

A  door  stood  open  at  the  top  of  the  stairs,  and  as 
Clancy  approached  it,  slightly  in  advance  of  Comp- 
ton, Lieutenant  Banta  appeared  at  the  threshold. 

"You  are  Mr.  Clancy,"  he  said,  extending  his 
hand.  "I  have  seen  you  often,  although  I  don't 
suppose  you  have  ever  noticed  me.  I  used  to  be  at 
the  Oak  Street  Station  in  the  days  of  Ed  Sleven.  I 
knew  you  when  you  were  a  youngster  around  your 
father's  office." 


242      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"Glad  to  renew  the  acquaintance,"  Tom  replied, 
accepting  the  proffered  hand. 

He  glanced  around  the  room  into  which  he  was 
drawn  and  smiled  grimly.  Counting  himself  and 
Compton,  there  were  exactly  thirteen  men  pres- 
ent, and  every  one  of  them  save  himself  had  experi- 
enced the  mightiness  of  Bingham  Harvard's 
strength  of  muscle. 

Banta  conducted  him  around  the  room,  introduc- 
ing him  to  each  man  in  turn  and  making  some  ap- 
propriate comment  as  he  did  so,  such  as: 

"This  is  Maddox,  Mr.  Clancy.  He  used  to  be 
stationed  at  Coney  Island.  He  hasn't  much  to  com- 
plain about — only  a  crushed  toe,  which  was  well 
long  ago.  This  is  Denton,  our  host  to-night;  he 
had  a  broken  arm.  And  this  is  Morris;  he  got  a 
black  eye  when  the  Night  Wind  slammed  Conover's 
head  against  it.  It  broke  Conover's  nose,  as  you 
can  see,  for  this  is  Conover  sitting  next  to  him." 

And  so  on  throughout  the  list.  The  names  and 
what  happened  to  each  one  are  not  necessary.  Only 
it  was  funny — or  at  least  Tom  Clancy  thought  so, 
for  he  wore  a  wide  grin  all  the  way  around  the 
group. 

"Banta,"  he  said  when  the  introductions  were 
over,  "if  I  had  been  suddenly  taken  up  in  an  aero- 
plane and  dropped  down  into  the  tree-tops  of  Tim- 
buctoo,  I  wouldn't  have  been  half  so  much  sur- 
prised as  I  am  at  this  minute.  Why,  these  chaps 


FOR  THE  HONOR  OF  THE  SERVICE    2 

seem  to  be  actually  proud  of  their — er — what-you- 
may-call-ems." 

"Call  them  experiences,  Mr.  Clancy.  They  are. 
They  learned  something.  We  are  not  regularly  or- 
ganized, understand.  We  have  simply  got  together 
in  a  common  cause;  and  that  common  cause  is  to 
square  ourselves  with  ourselves — and  incidentally, 
of  course,  with  Mr.  Bingham  Harvard,  if  he  is,  as 
many  of  us  believe,  innocent." 

"He  is,  Banta.  I  know  it,"  Tom  replied  with 
feeling. 

"And  I  believe  it.  The  reason  why  I  believe  it  is 
manifold.  Principally  it  is  because  I  have  had  a  long 
experience  with  criminals  and  crooks  of  all  de- 
scriptions, and  I  have  yet  to  know  of  one  who 
would  conduct  himself  exactly  as  Harvard  has  done 
since  the  beginning  of  this  affair. 

"The  next  most  important  one  is  that  I  know 
Rushton  and  Rushton's  methods,  and  while  I  do 
not  know  anything  to  prove  that  he  framed  up 
that  case  against  Harvard,  I  do  know  that  he  is 
quite  capable  of  doing  it." 

"We  will  get  the  goods  on  him  before  we  are 
through  with  him,  Banta,"  Tom  replied. 

"And  this  bunch  here,  every  one,  will  help — if 
there  are  'goods'  to  be  delivered,"  was  the  instant 
reply.  "All  the  same,  some  of  us  are  not  entirely 
satisfied  that  Harvard  did  not  get  that  wad ;  and— 


RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

we  would  like  to  have  a  straight  talk  with  him  in 
person.     How  does  that  strike  you?" 

"lean  see  no  objection — provided,  always,  that  Har- 
vard can  be  convinced  that  you  are  playing  fair." 

"If  he  is  the  man  I  think  he  is,  it  won't  be  a  very 
difficult  matter  to  convince  him  of  that,  Mr.  Clancy." 

"I  am  not  so  sure.  His  opinion  of  the  police  is 
somewhat  severe  just  at  present." 

"Naturally.  That  is  what  we  want  to  remedy. 
Do  you  think  that  you  can  induce  him  to  come  here 
to  see  us?" 

"When?" 

"At  any  time  you  will  fix.  To-night — now,  if 
he  is  within  summoning  distance." 

"I  will  hear  more  of  what  you  have  to  tell  me 
before  I  make  up  my  mind  to  summon  him,  lieu- 
tenant," Tom  replied. 

"Suppose  you  question  me,  then?  What  is  it 
that  you  wish  to  know  further  ?" 

"This,  first  of  all :  What  is  the  real  reason  for  this 
organization  ?  It  is  not  for  any  especial  interest  you 
have  in  the  affairs  of  Bing  Harvard.  When  all  is 
said,  you  chaps  don't  care  a  whoop  whether  he  is 
guilty  or  innocent.  So,  what  is  the  real  reason  ?" 

"It  is  for  the  individual  honor  of  every  honest 
cop  in  the  city  of  New  York,"  was  the  straightfor- 
ward and  emphatic  reply.  "This  getting  together 
was  my  idea  in  the  first  place.  I  found  that  the 
others  fell  for  it  on  the  spot.  We  don't  care  a 


FOR  THE  HONOR  OF  THE  SERVICE    245 

picayune  whether  Bingham  Harvard  is  Bingham 
Harvard  or  John  Jones ;  but  we  do  care  if  we  have 
been  put  into  the  position  of  hunting  down  an  in- 
nocent man,  if  our  superior  officer  knew  all  the 
time  that  he  was  innocent." 

Tom  nodded. 

"I  understand  all  that,"  he  said.  "Here  is  an- 
other thing :  Compton  tells  me  that  he  turned  in  his 
shield  to-day  and  quit.  He  says  that  you  have  quit 
also.  If  all  that  is  true,  what  interests  have  you 
still  in  the  police  department?" 

"Compton  can  answer  for  himself ;  or  perhaps  he 
has  already  done  so.  As  for  me,  I  have  served  my 
twenty  years,  and  I  have  long  intended  to  retire 
when  that  was  done.  But  I  love  the  'force'  and  a 
lot  of  the  men  who  are  on  it.  I  have  got  just  as 
much  respect  for  the  rank  and  file  as  I  ever  had. 

"And — here  is  the  point,  Mr.  Clancy — there  isn't 
any  doubt  whatever  that  a  good  many  'frame-ups' 
have  been  worked  on  innocent  men  and  women  in 
the  past;  but,  within  the  knowledge  of  these  men 
here,  there  never  has  been  a  probable  or  even  a  pos- 
sible frame-up  that  has  attained  the  celebrity  of 
this  Bingham  Harvard  case.  Don't  you  see  the 
point  I  am  making?" 

"Go  ahead — I'm  all  attention.'' 

"If  the  Harvard  case  was  a  frame-up,  and  it  can 
be  proved  that  it  was,  and  if  the  man  who  did  the 
'framing'  can  be  nailed  and  punished  as  he  should 


246     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

be,  it  will  put  the  everlasting  kibosh  on  any  more 
such  practises  in  the  New  York  police  department. 
And  it  is  to  the  distinct  personal  interest  of  every 
cop  in  New  York  to  assist  in  bringing  that  very 
thing  about.  Do  you  get  me  now?" 

"Yes." 

"Do  you  think  that  the  Night  Wind — Harvard— 
will  be  willing  to  meet  us  and  to  reply  to  a  few 
questions  we  would  like  to  ask  him  to  his  face  ?" 

"I  do  think  so;  yes." 

"Will  you  undertake  to  arrange  such  a  meeting, 
Mr.  Clancy?" 

"I  will  put  it  up  to  Mr.  Harvard  himself." 

"That  is  all  that  we  can  ask.  You  see,  there  are 
several  things  about  the  affair  that  get  our  goats, 
so  to  speak." 

"What,  for  example?" 

"Well,  for  one  thing,  before  he  went  away  he 
had  to  spend  a  lot  of  money.  Where  did  he  get  it 
to  spend,  if  he  didn't  have  that  dough  that  was 
swiped  from  the  Centropolis  Bank?  Then — • — " 

"Wait  a  minute,  Banta." 

"Well?" 

"I  was  going  to  say  that  /  could  reply  to  that 
question  for  him;  but,  on  second  thought,  I'll  let 
him  do  it  for  himself.  But  I  know  this  much:  / 
know  that  what  he  did  spend  was  his  own  money! 
— and  that  it  was  merely  an  accident  that  he  hap- 
pened to  have  a  large  sum  with  him  in  cash  that 


FOR  THE  HONOR  OF  THE  SERVICE     247 

night  when  he  made  his  getaway  from  you  and 
Coniglio  and  Rushton." 

"That  sounds  all  right,  only  we  would  like  to 
hear  him  explain  it,  Mr.  Clancy." 

"Of  course.  And  if  you  have  got  any  more 
such  questions,  keep  them  under  your  hat  until  I 
bring  him  here  before  you,  just  so  you  won't  think 
that  I  could  post  him  about  what  to  expect." 

"That's  all  right.  We  wouldn't  think  that. 
Don't  forget  we  are  all  cops,  and  that  some  of  us 
are  detectives  as  well.  We  think  we  know  some- 
thing about  men,  too.  Do  I  understand  that  you 
will  bring  the  Night  Wind  here  to  us  ?" 

"Yes." 

"When?" 

"Soon  after  midnight,  I  think — if  he  receives  a 
message  that  I  left  for  him.  That  is,  if  you  and 
the  others  can  wait  till  then,"  Tom  replied. 

Banta  looked  about  him. 

"Four  of  this  bunch  will  have  to  go  before  that," 
he  said;  "but  there  will  be  several  others  here  by 
that  time  to  take  their  places.  He  will  have  about 
the  same  number  present  as  are  here  now.  It  is  now 
nine  o'clock.  I  will  expect  you  back  here  between 
twelve  and  one.  Is  that  correct?" 

"Entirely." 

Clancy  left  them  soon  after  that 

Once  outside,  he  decided  that  he  would  not  await 
the  appointment  at  the  corner  of  Congress  and 


248     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Adams  Streets,  but  would  return  to  the  "little  house 
on  the  roof"  of  the  old  warehouse,  in  the  hope  that 
he  would  find  Harvard  there,  and  so  hasten  the  hour 
for  the  appointment. 

And  so  it  happened  that  when  the  Night  Wind 
returned  from  his  somewhat  exciting  call  upon  At- 
kinson he  found  Tom  Clancy  awaiting  him  with  an 
eagerness  that  was  very  quickly  explained. 

Nevertheless,  when  Clancy  made  known  all  that 
had  happened,  Harvard  shook  his  head  in  grave 
doubt. 

"It  looks  all  right  on  the  face  of  it,  Tom,"  he 
said;  "but  I  haven't  much  confidence  in  the  police, 
and  it  is  just  as  likely  to  be  a  'plant'  as  not.  How- 
ever, since  you  approve  of  it,  I  will  go  there  with 
you.  But,  old  chap,  if  it  is  a  put-up  job — if  it 
should  prove  to  be  a  trap — I'll  give  that  bunch  such 
a  run  for  their  money  as  they  never  dreamed  of  in 
all  their  lives." 

It  was  twelve  o'clock  precisely — a  trifle  earlier 
than  he  was  expected — when  Tom  Clancy  rapped 
upon  the  door  beyond  which  he  knew  that  Banta 
and  the  others  were  awaiting  the  Night  Wind. 

And  for  the  first  time  since  the  arrangement  was 
made  Tom  had  misgivings  of  his  own. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

THE  GOOD  THAT  MEN  DO 

Former  Lieutenant  Banta  was  standing  expec- 
tantly beside  a  small  table  near  the  middle  of  the 
room,  and  fourteen  policemen — a  few  of  them  in 
uniform,  but  the  majority  in  citizen's  clothes — were 
seated  in  various  attitudes  around  it  when  Tom 
Clancy  entered  in  response  to  the  summons  "Come 
in!"  " 

Tom  was  alone,  and  the  face  of  Banta  expressed 
some  surprise;  but  one  glance  around  that  room 
and  at  the  faces  of  the  men  who  waited  there  satis- 
fied Harvard's  friend  that  there  was  nothing  to 
fear.  He  half  turned  about  and  called  out: 

"Come  ahead,  Bing!" 

Bingham  Harvard,  alias  the  Night  Wind,  stepped 
across  the  threshold  and  halted  there,  facing  them 
all. 

Every  man  of  all  of  them  had  anticipated  that 
moment  and  was  prepared  for  it,  and  yet  it  came 
in  the  nature  of  a  surprise,  after  all. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  each  one  had  wondered 
what  ne  would  do  or  say  when  the  Night  Wind 
should  actually  appear — and  the  remarkable  thing 

249 


250     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

about  it  was  that  for  a  brief  space  nobody  moved 
or  uttered  a  word. 

And  then  it  was  the  Night  Wind  who  broke  the 
odd  silence. 

"It  strikes  me,  gentlemen,"  he  said,  "that  this  is 
rather  an  unprecedented  event." 

Banta  stepped  forward  quickly,  with  enthusiasm 
in  his  face  and  eyes. 

"Mr.  Harvard,"  he  said  in  his  deep  and  resonant 
voice,  "this  is  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  moments 
of  my  entire  career  as  a  policeman.  Every  ques- 
tion that  we  would  ask  you  is,  in  effect,  answered 
by  the  fact  of  your  presence.  None  but  an  inno- 
cent man  would  have  ventured  to  come  here  to  face 
us.  I  want  to  shake  hands  with  you." 

As  they  stood  so  for  a  moment,  with  their  right 
hands  clasped  together,  while  they  looked  earnestly 
into  each  other's  eyes,  Banta  remarked,  half  whim- 
sically and  with  a  friendly  smile : 

"Those  fingers  you  are  holding,  Mr.  Harvard, 
are  the  same  ones  that  you  crushed  for  me,  up  at 
Chester's  house,  that  time  when  Rushton  and  Co- 
niglio  and  I  attempted  to  put  you  under  arrest. 
Perhaps  it  will  please  you  to  know  now  that  not 
one  of  them  is  a  bit  the  worse  for  that  expedience." 

"I  am  very  glad  of  that,"  Bingham  replied  sim- 
ply. 

"And  there  is  not  a  man  here  who  has  not  some 
personal  recollection  of  you  of  the  same  sort,"  Banta 


THE  GOOD  THAT  MEN  DO  251 

continued.  "Of  course,  they  are  not  all  here.  There 
are  others  who  are  on  duty  and  could  not  come." 

Harvard  nodded.  It  was  a  trying  moment  He 
did  not  know  just  what  to  say. 

"I  think,"  Banta  went  on,  "that  all  who  are  here 
would  like  to  shake  hands  with  you  as  well  as  I." 

"I  am  sure  that  I  will  be  mighty  glad  to  shake 
hands  with  them,"  Harvard  replied  instantly  and 
looking  smilingly  from  face  to  face,  "and  to  ask 
one  and  all  of  them  to  try  to  forgive  me  for  the 
injuries  I  have  done  them." 

"Forgive  you !"  Cregan,  of  the  Bronx,  exclaimed, 
stepping  quickly  forward,  while  the  others  crowded 
around  him.  "Why,  I'm  proud  of  that  collarbone 
you  busted  up  for  me ;  and  there  isn't  a  guy  in  this 
bunch  that  don't  brag — on  the  quiet — of  how  he 
got  his" 

"You  wished  to  ask  me  some  questions,  Lieu- 
tenant Banta,"  Harvard  said  as  soon  as  the  general 
hand-shaking  was  over  and  the  men  had  resumed 
their  seats. 

Banta  nodded. 

"The  necessity  for  the  replies  to  them  has  passed 
now,"  he  said.  "It  has  become  merely  a  matter  of 
perfunctory  duty.  The  very  fact  that  you  are  here, 
and  the  manner  in  which  you  have  come  among  us, 
satisfies  every  man  here  as  to  the  main  fact." 

"Nevertheless,  lieutenant,  I  prefer  to  hear  the 
questions,  and  to  answer  them." 


£52     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"All  right.  Here  is  one:  where  did  you  get  the 
money  that  you  have  used — and  you  have  spent 
considerable — since  you  became  an  outlaw  and  a 
hunted  man?  I  have  got  to  ask  these  questions 
straight  from  the  shoulder,  you  know,"  he  added, 
half  apologetically. 

"I  much  prefer  that  you  should  do  so,  lieutenant. 
It  was  my  own  money  that  I  spent.  Perhaps  all 
of  you  have  been  informed  that  I  do  not  know  who 
my  parents  were.  I  was  a  foundling. 

"Mr.  Sterling  Chester  took  me  in  and  cared  for 
me.  He  gave  me  the  privileges  of  a  son.  He  was 
always  extremely  kind  and  affectionate  to  me.  I 
loved  him;  I  love  him  now  as  well  as  if  he  were 
my  own  father.  Wait,  please;  let  me  finish  in  my 
own  way. 

"From  my  early  youth  he  gave  me  an  allowance. 
As  I  grew  older  he  increased  it.  I  was  never  a 
spendthrift,  nor  extravagant  in  my  tastes  and  de- 
sires. I  saved  much  of  that  allowance.  Later, 
after  I  left  college — where  Mr.  Clancy  here  was 
my  chum — I  went  to  work  in  the  Centropolis  Bank, 
and  as  I  progressed  and  was  promoted  from  one 
position  to  another  my  salary  was  increased.  I 
saved  a  great  portion  of  it. 

"Such  sums  as  I  had  laid  by  I  invested  from  time 
to  time  in  real  estate  in  the  outlying  sections  of  the 
city.  Then,  just  before  this  thing  happened  to  me, 
I  had  arranged  to  take  up  all  of  those  investments, 


THE  GOOD  THAT  MEN  DO  253 

save  one  or  two  small  ones,  and  to  group  them  all 
together  into  one  big  one — at  least  I  called  it  a  big 
one. 

"It  happened  that  my  agent  telephoned  for  me  to 
go  to  his  office  after  banking  hours  that  very  day 
that  Mr.  Chester  asked  me  to  go  to  his  house  in  the 
evening — that  afternoon  before  the  evening  of  the 
attempted  arrest  at  his  house,  in  which  you  partic- 
ipated, lieutenant." 

Banta  nodded.  The  others  were  paying  the  clos- 
est attention. 

"I  went  to  the  office  of  my  agent  as  soon  as  I 
was  free  from  the  bank  that  day.  He  gave  me  the 
money  that  was  due  me  in  cash,  as  is  often  the 
whim  and  habit  of  real-estate  dealers.  It  was  in 
bills,  contained  in  a  large  envelope,  which  I  put 
into  the  inner  pocket  of  my  coat.  It  was  still  there, 
lieutenant,  when  you  and  the  others  attacked  me  in 
the  library  of  Chester's  house.  The  amount  was 
twenty-eight  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
dollars;  and  it  represented  very  nearly  all  the  sav- 
ings as  well  as  the  accrued  profits  of  my  life  up  to 
that  day." 

"It  was  almost  as  if  fate  had  directed  that  you 
should  have  that  money  with  you,  Mr.  Harvard," 
said  Lieutenant  Banta. 

"I  attribute  it  to  a  much  higher  power  than  mere 
fate,  lieutenant,"  Harvard  replied  with  a  smile. 
"What  is  the  next  question?" 


254      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

"All  of  the  others  are  unimportant;  possibly  at- 
tributable to  curiosity  and  interest  rather  than  to 
the  case  itself." 

"Nevertheless,  ask  them." 

"What,  in  your  own  opinion,  did  become  of  those 
packages  of  bills  that  were  lost  or  stolen  from  the 
bank?" 

"Concerning  that  I  am  as  much  in  doubt  as  any 
person  in  this  room." 

"But — you  have  suspicions?" 

"If  I  have  such,  they  have  been  formed  since  my 
return  to  New  York.  I  had  not  one  before  I  went 
away." 

"Are  you  willing  to  tell  us  those  suspicions?" 

"No.  They  are  not  sufficiently  direct;  and  my 
own  experiences  demand  that  I  shall  not  divulge 
them  until  I  am  very  certain  that  they  are,  in  the 
main,  correct." 

"Are  you  now  engaged  in  an  effort  to  discover 
who  the  real  culprit  is?" 

"Yes.    That  is  why  I  returned." 

"We  are  here  to  assist  you  in  that  effort,  Mr. 
Harvard." 

Bingham  Harvard  raised  his  head  proudly.  His 
eyes  shone,  and  there  was  a  suggestion  of  moisture 
in  them  as  he  replied  with  deep  feeling: 

"I  thank  you,  gentlemen.  This  moment,  and 
what  it  brings  to  me,  repays  me  for  all  that  I  have 
suffered.  It  does  more,  for  it  restores  my  confi- 


THE  GOOD  THAT  MEN  DO  255 

dence  in  my  fellow  men  and  my  belief  that  jus- 
tice must  finally  triumph.  I  want  to  say  now  that  I 
regret  more  than  I  can  express  the  physical  inju- 
ries I  have  inflicted  upon  so  many  policemen — for 
here  before  my  eyes  I  can  see  the  living  proof  that 
the  New  York  City  policemen  are  the  finest  and 
the  best  lot  of  men  who  were  ever  enlisted  under 
one  direct  command." 

Everybody  was  silent  for  a  moment  after  that; 
then  Harvard  asked: 

"Are  there  more  questions,  lieutenant?" 

"I'd  like  to  ask  one!"  Officer  Casey  exclaimed 
from  the  background.  "I'd  like  to  know  how  the 
blazes  you  do  it,  sir?" 

"Do  what?"  Harvard  inquired  smilingly. 

"Well,  you  chucked  me  down  some  elevated 
steps  once  on  a  time,  an'  then  you  went  up  in  smoke 
or  something;  annyhow,  you  disappeared  mighty 
suddint.  Rushton  is  called  the  strongest  man  on  the 
force;  Coniglio  ain't  far  behind  him,  and  Lieuten- 
ant Banta  could  handle  anny  two  of  us  if  he  set 
out  to  do  it;  yet  you  wance  put  all  three  of  thim 
guys  in  the  soup  at  once.  How'd  you  do  it  ?  That's 
what  /  wanta  know." 

"I  don't  know.  I  was  born  that  way.  The 
strength  is  inherited  from  my  unknown  parents.  I 
only  know  that  I  have  it,  and  that  I  am  sometimes 
afraid  of  it  myself.  It  is  a  gift — in  just  the  same 
way  that  some  persons  can  sing  while  others  can- 


not ;  some   can  paint  pictures   and   others   cannot. 

"Just  in  proportion,  Casey,  as  you  are  stronger 
than  the  average  man  you  meet  on  the  streets,  and 
as  Rushton,  Coniglio,  and  Lieutenant  Banta  are 
stronger  than  you  are,  so  have  I  been  given  more 
physical  strength  than  they  possess." 

"How  did  you  get  from  Boston  to  New  York, 
once,  when  there  wasn't  any  train  to  bring  you?" 
Brainard,  of  the  Forty-third,  asked.  "That  was 
the  time  when  you  took  my  gun  and  stick  away 
from  me  at  the  corner  of  Park  Avenue  and  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-eighth  Street.  How  did  you 
do  that?" 

"I  came  on  the  fast  mail,  which  carries  no  pas- 
sengers. I  rode  all  the  way  over  between  the  en- 
gine tender  and  the  first  car,  which  was  'blind.' 
That  was  easy,  although  it  was  uncomfortable." 

"How  did  you  get  here,  the  other  day,  from  the 
steamship  Golgotha  when  she  was  somewhere  be- 
tween Fire  Island  and  Sandy  Hook?"  Lieutenant 
Banta  asked,  smiling.  "I  confess  that  that  has 
puzzled  me." 

"I  was  not  aboard  the  Golgotha,  lieutenant.  I 
left  the  other  side  two  days  after  Mrs.  Harvard 
sailed.  I  came  on  the  Pretoria.  I  arrived  here  four 
days  after  she  did.  That  cablegram  that  I  showed  to 
the  inspector,  if  you  know  about  that,  was  faked 
for  the  purposes  of  that  little  joke.  So,  you  see, 
there  is  nothing  supernatural  about  it  after  all." 


THE  GOOD  THAT  MEN  DO  257 

"Well,  Mr.  Harvard,  we  have  done  with  the 
questioning.  We  are  all  in  line  to  help  you  to 
square  yourself,  because  we  want  to  square  our- 
selves. There  are  some  of  us  here  who  are  going 
to  work  on  the  inside  of  that  thing  that  you  call 
the  'system'  to  that  end.  I  am  one  of  them;  and, 
now  that  I  have  retired,  I  am  in  a  position  to  do 
perhaps  more  than  I  otherwise  could.  Are  you 
willing  to  keep  in  touch  with  us — with  me?" 

"Most  certainly.     I " 

"Hold  on  a  minute,  Bing!"  Tom  Clancy  inter- 
rupted him.  "I  have  held  my  breath  so  long  that 
I'll  bust  if  I  don't  let  it  out." 

He  turned  toward  Banta. 

"I  have  been  thinking  of  a  plan  since  this  confab 
began,"  he  said.  "I  have  decided  to  stick  with 
Harvard  from  this  out  until  the  game  is  finished. 
I  need  a  vacation,  anyhow. 

"I'm  going  to  let  a  few  friends  of  mine  worry 
about  me,  thinking  that  I  have  disappeared.  /  will 
keep  in  touch  with  you,  Banta,  and  I  will  put  some 
others  in  touch  with  you,  too.  We  won't  lose  any 
tricks,  either.  How  does  that  strike  you?" 

"Very  favorably,  Mr.  Clancy,"  was  the  reply. 

"All  right.  Then  I'll  give  you  a  pointer.  You 
get  busy  down  at  headquarters,  and  find  out  exactly 
the  method  that  Rushton  used  in  that  frame-up. 
And  you  can  do  it.  And  if  you  can  get  anything 
on  the  inspector  in  the  mean  time — get  it!" 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

I  THE  GREAT  WHITE  LIGHT 

"Say,  Chester,  who  is  that  new  guy  you've  got 
inside  of  the  payin'-teller's  cage?" 

Rushton  had  walked  into  the  bank  and  through 
it.directly  to  the  office  of  the  president,  shortly  after 
one  o'clock  on  the  second  day  of  Lady  Kate's  in- 
cumbency as  an  assistant  teller  under  the  name  of 
Erin  Caton. 

He  had  barely  glanced  toward  the  cage  as  he 
passed  it.  One  would  have  supposed  that  he  had 
not  noticed  the  presence  of  a  new  employee  there. 
Nevertheless  he  seemed  to  be  thoroughly  aware  of 
the  fact. 

The  thing  that  Chester  noticed  concerning  him, 
however,  was  an  utter  absence  of  the  half  reluctant 
and  partly  respectful  formality  with  which  Rush- 
ton  had  addressed  him  heretofore.  Since  the  ex- 
periences in  Queens  County  and  the  payment  of 
the  five  thousand  dollars  the  lieutenant's  manner 
toward  the  president  of  the  Centropolis  Bank  had 
undergone  an  entire  change. 

258 


THE  GREAT  WHITE  LIGHT          259 

"He  is  the  new  assistant  paying-teller,"  the 
banker  replied.  "We  have  been  short-handed  since 
the  Harvard  affair.  Why  do  you  ask?" 

"Oh,  nothin'.  Only  you  wanta  look  out  that  he 
don't  get  into  you  for  a  wad,  the  same  as  Harvard 
did.  That's  all.  It  ain't  always  safe  to  put  a  new 
man  into  a  responsible  job  like  that,  is  it?  I 
thought  you  boosted  'em  from  one  place  to  an- 
other." 

"We  do,  as  a  rule.  However,  Mr.  Caton  is  very 
highly  recommended." 

"Caton's  his  name,  eh  ?  Why  don't  you  call  him 
in  here  and  let  me  look  him  over?" 

"That  would  be  quite  an  unnecessary  proceed- 
ing, lieutenant.  Why  should  you  want  to  look  him 
over,  as  you  express  it?" 

"Oh,  just  to  take  his  measure.  If  I  am  going  to 
keep  tabs  for  you  on  things  down  here,  it's  just  as 
well  to  start  in  right,  you  know." 

"But  I  was  not  aware  that  you  were  going  to 
perform  any  such  service  for  me,  Mr.  Rushton." 

"Wasn't  you?"  Rushton  grinned.  "I  guess  if 
you  think  about  it  a  minute  you  will  remember  that 
we  made  that  arrangement  the  other  mornin'  when 
we  took  that  ride  together.  You  don't  mean  to  tell 
me  that  you  have  forgotten  it,  Chester?"  he  de- 
manded in  mock  surprise. 

"I  haven't  the  slightest  recollection  of " 

"Say,  now,  look  here,   what's  the  matter  with 


260      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

you?  Of  course  you  remember  when  you  stop  to 
think  about  it.  •  I  was  to  keep  tabs  generally  on 
everything  that's  doin'  around  the  bank  and  to 
give  you  all  the  spare  time  I  could  from  my  regular 
duties  down  below,  and  act  as  a  sort  of  'specially 
privileged  detective  right  along,  and  you  was  to 
pay  me  the  small  sum  of  twenty-five  hundred  a 
year  for  doin'  it.  See?" 

Chester  could  only  stare  his  amazement 

His  wit  was  nimble  enough  so  that  he  instantly 
comprehended  that  Rushton  was  indulging  in  an- 
other form  of  "touch,"  cloaked  although  it  was 
in  a  pretense  of  a  previous  business  arrangement. 

There  were  so  many  emotions  in  his  mind  at  the 
moment  that  it  would  have  been  difficult  even  for 
himself  to  have  told  which  one  was  uppermost — 
disgust,  anger,  or  outraged  dignity — that  he  should 
be  compelled  into  juxtaposition  with  such  a  char- 
acter as  Rushton  was  fast  proving  himself  to  be. 

If  Rodney  Rushton  had  put  down  on  the  desk  in 
front  of  Chester  the  proofs  of  his  own  "frame- 
up"  against  Bir.gham  Harvard  they  would  not  have 
been  more  convincing  to  the  exact  mathematical 
mind  of  the  banker  than  the  revelation  of  Rush- 
ton's  true  character  as  it  gaped  him  in  the  face  at 
that  moment. 

And,  oddly  enough,  it  brought  him  the  first  sense 
of  real  relief,  the  first  emotion  of  joy,  that  he  had 


THE  GREAT  WHITE  LIGHT         261 

experienced  during  all  the  year  and  more  since  his 
loss  of  faith  in  Harvard. 

He  raised  his  eyes  slowly  to  Rushton's  face,  and 
if  they  had  been  X-ray  eyes  the  banker  could  not 
have  seen  more  clearly  into  the  fleshless  skeleton 
of  the  police  lieutenant's  character. 

Sterling  Chester,  according  to  his  own  methods 
of  business  life,  was  as  shrewd  and  deft  in  the 
manipulation  of  affairs  as  anybody.  Given  a  propo- 
sition which  required  only  the  exercise  of  his  own 
judgment  for  a  decision,  it  was  a  rare  thing  in- 
deed when  that  judgment  was  wrong.  It  was  only 
when  he  was  forced  to  rely  upon  the  judgments  of 
others — as  in  police  matters,  or  anything  extrane- 
ous to  his  own  business,  for  example — that  he 
erred. 

The  condition  at  that  moment — and  it  all  came 
with  the  suddenness  of  a  flash  of  light — was  as  if 
Bingham  Harvard  had  been  standing  before  him 
covered  from  head  to  feet  in  a  cloak  of  guilt  and 
Rushton  had  sprung  into  the  room  and  torn  the 
cloak  aside.  And  yet  the  steady  calmness  in  the 
mildly  cold  eyes  of  the  banker  never  wavered  for 
an  instant  while  he  looked  into  the  police  lieuten- 
ant's eyes. 

Rushton  saw  nothing,  realized  nothing,  of  what 
was  passing  in  the  banker's  mind. 

Not  once,  in  all  the  effort  that  Bingham  Har- 
vard and  his  friends  were  making  to  establish  his 


RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

innocence,  had  so  great  a  step  forward  been  made 
as  that  one  which  Rodney  Rushton  inadvertently 
compelled  the  banker  to  take  at  that  moment. 

Sterling  Chester  suddenly  knew  that  Bingham 
Harvard  was  innocent. 

It  was  not  belief  merely;  it  was  knowledge. 

As  one  may  gaze  upon  a  moving  picture  while 
it  is  thrown  upon  a  screen  before  one's  eyes,  so 
Chester  saw  revealed  the  moving  drama  of  his  own 
misjudgments  of  his  foster-son  as  they  had  been 
enacted  during  the  past  year;  and  yet  not  a  trace 
of  all  this  showed  upon  his  face  or  in  his  eyes. 

Nor,  in  spite  of  all  this  explanation  that  has  been 
given  here,  was  there  a  noticeable  hiatus  in  the  con- 
versation between  the  two  men. 

If  the  banker  appeared  to  hesitate  while  he 
searched  for  a  reply  to  Rushton's  remarkable  state- 
ment, it  was  but  a  natural  hesitation  under  the 
circumstances;  or,  at  least,  the  lieutenant  so  re- 
garded it. 

When  the  banker  did  reply  it  was  with  the  calm 
directness  which  might  be  expected  of  him. 

"Let  me  understand  you  perfectly — if  that  is 
possible,  Rushton,"  he  said  coldly.  "I  will  make 
no  pretense  of  recalling  a  conversation  which  never 
occurred  between  us;  but  I  do  hear,  and  under- 
stand also,  all  that  you  have  just  said.  Stated  as 
a  plain,  cold  fact,  the  situation  is  this:  In  order  to 
avoid  the  unpleasant  possibilities  which  might 


THE  GREAT  WHITE  LIGHT         263 

arise  if  you  choose  to  reveal  the  circumstances  of 
my  call  at  the  jail  in  Queens  County,  I  must  hence- 
forth pay  you  the  sum  of  twenty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars a  year  for  some  sort  of  pretended  service 
which  you  will  be  supposed  to  perform  for  me  at 
this  bank  or  in  connection  with  it.  Is  that  correct?" 

Rushton  never  batted  an  eye. 

"Oh,  I  will  perform  the  services  right  enough, 
when  there  are  any  to  perform,"  he  replied. 

"Nevertheless,  in  the  main  my  statement  is  cor- 
rect, is  it  not?" 

Rushton  nodded,  and  there  was  a  perceptible 
sneer  on  his  face. 

"You  have  just  received  five  thousand  dollars 
from  me  to  pay  for  silence  on  your  part.  I  had 
supposed  that  that  ended  the  matter.  Now  you 
come  here  and  demand  an  additional  sum  which 
amounts,  approximately,  to  fifty  dollars  a  week. 
How  long  a  time  will  it  be  before  you  make  further 
demands  upon  me,  lieutenant?" 

"Aw,  there  won't  be  any  more,  Chester.  That 
five  thousand  was  a  retainer.  This  here  twenty- 
five  hundred  a  year  is  to  be  my  regular  salary — 
and  I'll  earn  that;  you  see  if  I  don't.  Only,  it's 
got  to  go,  and  that  settles  it." 

"Very  well.  If  I  must,  I  must,  I  suppose.  How 
do  you  want  it  paid  to  you?" 

Rushton's  eyes  gleamed  avariciously.  He  had  not 
anticipated  quite  such  an  easy  victory  as  this  was. 


264     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

The  very  ease  of  it  should  have  warned  him,  but 
it  did  not. 

"You  just  now  arranged  for  that  part  of  it  when 
you  said  something  about  payin'  me  fifty  a  week," 
he  replied. 

"Then,  if  you  come  here  every  Saturday " 

"Make  it  Mondays,  Chester." 

"Very  well;  if  you  come  to  me  here  every  Mon- 
day I  will  pay  over  to  you  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars. 
Is  that  understood?  And  also  that  there  will  be 
no  further  demands  made  upon  me?" 

"Sure." 

"Because  there  is  a  limit  to  my  endurance.  And 
now,  if  you  will  glance  behind  you,  you  will  dis- 
cover that  there  are  two  gentlemen  outside  the  rail 
waiting  to  see  me;  so  I  will  ask  you  to  excuse  me." 

"Oh,  I'll  go  in  a  second  or  so.  Don't  you  want 
me  to  take  a  look  at  that  young  fellow  you  call 
Caton  first?" 

"No.    It  is  not  necessary." 

"All  right.  Just  as  you  say.  I'll  take  a  squint 
at  him  through  the  window  of  the  cage  as  I  pass 
outside.  That'll  do  just  as  well."  Rushton  got 
upon  his  feet.  "I  guess  we'd  better  shake  hands 
on  it,  Chester,"  he  said,  extending  his  own,  which 
the  banker  pretended  not  to  see.  "Shake  hands, 
Mr.  Chester,"  Rushton  repeated,  and  there  was  a 
suggestion  of  menace  in  his  tone.  "There's  a  few 


THE  GREAT  WHITE  LIGHT         865 

guys  lookin'  this  way,  and  it  won't  do  no  harm  to 
have  'em  see  us  part  real  friendly." 

Chester  rose  to  his  feet.  For  an  instant  he  per- 
mitted his  right  hand  to  rest  limply  upon  Rushton's. 
Then,  as  the  lieutenant  went  from  the  office,  the 
president  turned  and  actually  hurried  into  his  pri- 
vate lavatory,  where  he  let  the  cold  water  run  upon 
his  hands  for  several  minutes. 

The  despatch  with  which  he  transacted  the  busi- 
ness of  those  waiting  men  was  unusual  with  him; 
and  they  sensed  that  there  was  something  new  and 
eager  in  the  banker's  manner  and  attitude.  There 
was  a  new  light  in  his  eyes,  an  unusual  alertness 
in  his  methods,  which  they  regarded  as  unusual 
Had  they  but  known  it,  Sterling  Chester  had  not 
been  so  happy  as  then  for  more  than  a  year;  be- 
cause— he  knew  that  Bingham  Harvard  was  inno- 
cent. 

As  soon  as  the  business  of  the  moment  was 
dismissed  Chester  pressed  a  button  beneath  the  edge 
of  his  desk  and  directed  that  the  new  assistant 
paying-teller  be  requested  to  come  to  the  president's 
office  immediately. 

Then  he  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and  waited,  and 
there  was  an  unusual — and  unreadable — expression 
upon  his  kindly  face  that  had  been  absent  from  it 
for  a  long,  long  time. 

Lady  Kate,  when  she  received  the  summons,  ex- 
perienced a  thrill  of  consternation.  She  had  seen 


266      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Rush  ton  pass  into  the  bank  and  out  of  it  again. 
She  knew  that  he  had  stopped  near  the  window  in 
going  out  and  had  stared  long  and  hard  at  her 
through  the  screen  of  steel.  She  wondered  if  he 
had  penetrated  her  disguise. 

"Don't  be  afraid  of  the  old  man,  Caton,"  Mor- 
daunt  cautioned  as  she  started  away.  "His  bark 
is  worse  than  his  bite — as  a  rule." 

Nevertheless,  she  entered  the  private  office  in 
some  perturbation;  and  the  first  remark  addressed 
to  her  by  the  president  was  not  calculated  to  allay 
her  uneasiness. 

"Mr.  Caton,"  he  said,  leaning  back  in  his  chair 
and  putting  the  tips  of  his  fingers  together,  as  was 
a  habit  with  him  when  he  was  very  much  in 
earnest,  "certain  matters  have  just  been  brought 
to  my  attention  which  renders  it  necessary  for  me 
to  question  you  somewhat  closely  concerning  your- 
self and  your  employment  in  this  bank.  I  must 
know,  and  at  once,  exactly  who  and  what  you  are, 
and  precisely  what  you  expect  to  accomplish  while 
you  are  here  with  us.  Be  seated,  Mr.  Caton." 


CHAPTER   XXIX 
FINDING  A  BANKER'S  HEART 

Lady  Kate  gasped — inwardly;  but  she  stuck  to 
her  guns  just  the  same. 

"I  supposed,  sir/'  she  replied  coolly,  notwith- 
standing the  fluttering  that  was  going  on  inside  of 
her,  "that  the  letter  I  brought  to  you,  and  the  other 
papers,  sufficiently  explained  all  that." 

"For  your  purposes  as  they  stood  an  hour  ago, 
and  for  my  own  part  they  did,"  he  went  on  mildly. 
"But  things  have  happened  in  the  last  half-hour  or 
so  which  entirely  change  my  attitude  toward  you 
and  your  reason  for  being  here.  You  are,  as  I 
was  led  to  understand,  a  detective.  Is  that  cor- 
rect?" 

"In  the  main  it  is.  I  am  acting  in  that  capacity, 
sir.  Of  course,  you  were  made  fully  aware  of  that 
fact  before  I  came  here  at  all." 

"Naturally.  I  was  forced  into  receiving  you  here 
as  an  employee.  I  deeply  resented  that  fact,  al- 
though I  was  powerless  to  prevent  it.  Just  now 
I  find  myself  inclined  to  be  glad  that  you  are  here." 

267 


S68      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Katharine  was  more  puzzled  than  ever,  but  she 
wisely  kept  silent. 

"As  I  look  at  you  closely,"  the  banker  went  on 
in  that  same  mild  tone,  "I  find  a  suggestion  of 
familiarity  in  your  features,  although  I  cannot  for 
the  moment  place  it.  But  it  really  makes  no  differ- 
ence. I  assume,  for  reasons  well  known  to  each 
of  us,  that  you  are  more  or  less  well  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Thomas  Clancy.  Is  that  correct?" 

"It  is." 

'And — with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bingham  Harvard  as 
well?  You  need  have  no  hesitation  in  answering." 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Could  you  communicate  with  either  of  the  two 
persons  I  last  named?" 

"Yes." 

"Will  you  undertake  to  convey  a  message  to 
one  or  both  of  them  from  me?" 

"Yes — as  soon  as  it  may  be  convenient  and  ex- 
pedient to  do  so." 

"Please  say  to  them,  then,  that  I  have  this  day 
become  absolutely  convinced  of  the  entire  innocence 
of  Bingham  Harvard  in  the  matter  of  those  missing 
three  packages  of  money." 

Lady  Kate  started  to  her  feet.  For  the  moment 
she  forgot  utterly  the  part  she  was  playing;  and 
yet  she  did  not  betray  herself. 

"Oh!"  she  exclaimed  and  sat  down  again. 

The  banker  continued  in  that  same  low,  even 


FINDING  A  BANKER'S  HEART       269 

tone  of  finality  which  left  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of 
Lady  Kate  of  his  entire  sincerity: 

"It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  explain  now 
just  how  this  certain  knowledge  has  come  to  me. 
I  doubt  if  I  quite  understand  it  myself.  In  fact, 
I  believe  that  in  my  heart  I  have  known  it  all  the 
time,  and  that  I  only  needed  a  shock  of  some  sort 
to  uncover  it.  But  it  has  been  given  to  me  to-day 
to  see  it  all  very  clearly.  I  realize  the  sad  mis- 
takes I  have  made — the  almost  inexcusable  mis- 
judgments  of  which  I  have  been  guilty.  And  I 
will  not  attempt  now  or  here  to  excuse  them.  I 
have  called  you  into  my  private  office  to  say  to 
you  that  I  now  stand  ready  to  give  you  every  aid 
in  my  power  in  discovering  the  real  thief  or  thieves. 
Is  all  that  quite  clear  to  you,  Mr.  Caton?" 

Lady  Kate  nodded.  She  could  not  have  spoken 
just  then  to  save  her  life. 

"Will  you  undertake  to  convey  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Harvard  the  full  purport  of  all  that  I  have  said  on 
the  subject?" 

She  nodded  again,  and  still  she  found  it  difficult 
to  reply  in  words.  She  wanted  to  leap  to  her  feet, 
to  throw  her  arms  around  the  old  man's  neck  and 
kiss  him,  to  rush  from  the  bank  and  fly  to  her  hus- 
band, to  tell  him  the  wonderful  news  of  the  mira- 
cle that  had  been  wrought — and  yet  she  had  to  sit 
calmly  in  her  chair  in  her  masculine  character, 


870        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

while  every   feminine  impulse  within  her  struggled 
to  reach  the  surface. 

She  did  not  know  that  her  face  flushed,  and  then 
grew  pale,  only  to  flush  up  again  with  the  suc- 
ceeding instant. 

She  did  not  realize  how  intently  the  banker  was 
regarding  her;  how  he  bent  forward  in  his  chair 
to  get  a  closer  and  a  better  view  of  her  face  and 
eyes;  and  she  thought  it  strange  that  he  left  his 
chair,  crossed  to  the  door  of  the  directors'  room, 
and  called  to  her  to  follow  him. 

He  closed  the  door  as  soon  as  they  had  passed 
beyond  it.  Then  he  turned  and  faced  her. 

"This  information  has  been  too  much  for  you 
— as  it  almost  was  for  me,"  he  said,  with  a  kindly 
smile  on  his  face.  "It  has  made  you  betray  your- 
self, Mrs.  Harvard.  You  are  a  brave  young  woman, 
indeed,  to  undertake  such  a  task  as  this.  Bingham 
might  well  be  proud  of  you — as  I  am  also." 

He  extended  his  hand,  and  she  grasped  it  with 
both  of  her  own;  and  so  they  stood  for  a  passing 
moment  or  two  in  silence.  Then,  with  a  whimsical 
smile  on  his  face,  which  had  become  oddly  trans- 
figured since  the  door  was  closed,  he  said: 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  welcome  you  as  a  daugh\er 
whenever  it  shall  please  you  to  come  to  me — al- 
though I  must  confess  that  you  have  not  much 
the  appearance  of  a  daughter  just  now.  Your 


FINDING  A  BANKER'S  HEART         271 

disguise  is  perfect.  But  for  the  emotion  which  you 
could  not  hide  I  would  not  have  penetrated  it." 

"Please  tell  me  what  has  happened  to  bring  about 
this  miracle,"  she  asked,  smiling  happily. 

"I  cannot.  I  don't  know.  As  I  said  a  little  while 
ago,  I  think  I  have  known  it  all  along,  but  would 
not  admit  it  even  to  my  inner  consciousness.  Rush- 
ton  has  laid  bare  his  true  character.  I  have  looked 
upon  it,  stripped  of  all  concealment.  Bankers  are 
mathematical  creatures.  Two  and  two  make  four 
with  them  always — never  more  nor  less.  That  very 
fact  is  possibly  my  excuse — if  there  can  be  one — 
for  the  attitude  I  have  persevered  in  so  long.  The 
mask  was  suddenly  pulled  aside  from  the  search- 
light of  truth,  and  I  saw  it  revealed.  I  am  happier 
at  this  moment,  Mrs.  Harvard,  than  I  have  been 
for  more  than  a  year.  You  and  Bingham  must 
come  to  my  desolate  home  at  once  and  make  it 
your  own.  I  will  straighten  out  this  tangle " 

"You  forget,  Mr.  Chester,"  she  interrupted 
him,  "that  the  thief  has  not  been  found." 

"We  will  find  him  in  good  time.    Just  now " 

"Bingham  can  never  appear  in  the  open;  he  can 
never  again  hold  his  head  high  among  men  until 
his  innocence  is  established  to  all  the  world.  There 
are  others  than  yourself  to  be  convinced,  sir." 

'Yes,  yes,  that  is  true.  I  was  forgetting  all  that" 

"But  you  must  not  forget." 

"No.     You  are  right."     The  banker  was  silent 


S72      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

a  moment,  then:  "Will  you  tell  me  what  you  ex- 
pected to  accomplish  by  your  presence  here  in  the 
bank?" 

"Yes,"  she  replied,  and  her  eyes  took  on  a  dreamy 
expression  as  she  raised  them  toward  the  embossed 
and  figured  and  ornately  decorated  ceiling  over 
their  heads,  in  an  effort  at  concentration.  That 
ceiling  was  a  continuation  of  the  one  outside  which 
canopied  the  greater  room  of  the  bank  proper. 

"Well?"  Chester  asked  her. 

"I  expected,"  she  answered  slowly,  "to  find  out 
how  those  three  packages  of  bills  were  removed 
from  the  paying  teller's  cage.  I  hoped  to  be  able 
to  discover  the  method  by  which  they  were  taken. 
I  have  believed  all  along  that  if  that  much  were 
made  clear,  the  next  step — that  of  rinding  out  who 
did  it — would  be  a  simple  one." 

"You  have  been  here  two  days,  very  nearly.  Has 
anything  developed  yet?" 

"Nothing." 

"Do  you  know  of  any  way  in  which  I  can  be 
of  assistance  to  you — without  making  that  fact  ap- 
parent to  others — to  the  guilty  party  or  parties, 
for  example?" 

"No.  Just  at  this  moment  I  do  not.  But,  now 
that  I  am  assured  of  your  aid,  all  things  are  made 
possible." 

"Have  you  in  mind  any  plan  by  which " 


FINDING  A  BANKER'S  HEART       *78 

She  started  eagerly,  and  he  stopped  with  the 
<juestion  incomplete. 

"Well?"  he  said. 

"Your  words  suggested  something  to  me,  Mr. 

Chester.  I  wonder Can  you  tell  me  when  this 

building  was  erected?" 

"Certainly.     Ten  years  ago." 

"Were  you  here  then?  Were  you  president  of 
the  bank  at  that  time?" 

"Yes;  I  have  been  its  president  a  much  longer 
time  than  that." 

"A  moment  ago  you  made  use  of  the  word  'plan,' 
although  with  a  different  meaning  than  I  will  now 
apply  to  it.  Have  you  got  in  your  possession  now, 
or  can  you  procure  for  me,  the  architect's  plans — 
all  of  them — elevations,  sections,  everything — that 
were  finally  accepted  and  approved  for  the  con- 
struction of  this  building  in  every  detail?" 

"Most  assuredly.     They  are " 

"It  does  not  matter  where  they  are.  Will  you 
get  them  for  me  and  let  me  have  them  in  my  pos- 
session before  I  sleep  to-night?" 

"I  will  take  them  to  my  home  with  me  when  I 
go  there  after  the  bank  has  closed.  You  may 
come  there  if  you  will  this  evening  at  any  hour  that 
best  suits  your  own  convenience.  I  should  per- 
haps inform  you  that  there  are  certain  secrets  con- 
nected with  those  plans  which  are  known  only  to 
myself  as  the  president  and  to  a  few  of  our  most 


27*      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

important  directors — secrets  which  the  cashier  does 
not  know — which  no  man  who  is  employed  on  the 
main  floor  of  the  bank  is  aware  of.  It  is  so  with 
all  banking  institutions  of  the  first  class  which  have 
erected  modern  buildings." 

Katherine  nodded.  "That  is  exactly  why  I  wish 
to  study  them,"  she  said;  and  added:  "I  probably 
will  not  go  to  your  house  alone,  Mr.  Chester." 

"If  you  will  bring  Bingham  with  you "  he 

began,  but  she  interrupted  him. 

"I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  do  that.  I  have  not 
decided.  He  does  not  know  of  this  disguise  of 
mine.  He  has  no  suspicion  of  what  I  am  doing.  I 
would  ask  Mr.  Clancy  to  go  with  me  if  I  were  sure 
that  I  could  find  him  in  time.  All  of  that  will  de- 
pend upon  circumstances.  But  there  is  at  least  one 
man  whom  I  will  want  to  have  with  me.  I  refer 

now  to "  And  she  mentioned  the  name  of  the 

man  whom  we  have  identified  through  these  pages 
as  Chief  Redhead. 

"Bring  whomsoever  you  will,"  Chester  replied. 
"And  come  to  the  house  whenever  you  will  after 
eight  o'clock  and  before  midnight.  And  now,  Mr. 
Caton" — he  smiled  happily — "I  think  it  is  time 
that  you  returned  to  your  duties.  You  may  tell  Mr. 
Atkinson  that  I  want  him  in  my  office,  if  you 
please." 

"Surely,  Mr.  Chester,  you  do  not  intend  to  con- 
fide in  him,  or  in  anybody,  regarding  what  has 


FINDING  A  BANKER'S  HEART        275 

passed  between  us?"  Katherine  exclaimed  in  sud- 
den alarm. 

"Indeed,  no.  I  shall  tell  him  that  I  have  had  a 
long  talk  with  you,  and  that  I  believe  you  are  going 
to  serve  us  well ;  but  that  I  wish  him  to  keep  rather 
a  sharp  lookout  upon  you  for  a  time,  for  all  that. 
Afterward  I  shall  send  for  Mr.  Mordaunt  and  tell 
him  the  same  thing.  Otherwise  they  might  regard 
this  extended  interview  between  us  as  unusual,  to 
say  the  least." 

At  the  door  Katherine  paused  and  addressed  the 
banker  again. 

"How  shall  I  ever  thank  you  enough,  Mr.  Ches- 
ter?" she  asked,  with  a  suggestion  of  moisture  in 
her  eyes. 

"By  inducing  Bingham  to  find  it  in  his  heart  to 
forgive  me,  by  assuring  him  that  I  am  hungering 
for  his  old-time  affection  for  me — and  by  trying 
for  yourself  to  give  a  little  love  to  an  old  man 
whose  heart  is  in  the  right  place,  even  if  his  head 
does  go  wrong  sometimes,"  the  banker  answered 
promptly. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

THE     CIPHER 

It  developed  that  Lady  Kate  was  obliged  to  go 
quite  alone  to  the  banker's  home  that  night,  and 
thereby  hangs  not  one  but  several  tales. 

She  recalled  for  one  thing  the  caution  that  the 
chief  had  given  her  in  regard  to  using  the  telephone 
during  the  first  days  of  her  incumbency. 

Also,  when  she  came  away  from  the  bank  after 
her  duties  for  the  day  were  over,  she  was  deeply 
concerned  to  discover  the  ominous  presence  of 
Rushton,  who  had  posted  himself  at  one  of  the  op- 
posite corners,  and  who,  she  did  not  doubt,  was 
twaiting  her  appearance. 

An  encounter  with  Rushton  had  been  the  one 
thing  which  she  most  dreaded  when  she  undertook 
to  impersonate  a  man  at  Chester's  bank,  for  Lieu- 
tenant Rushton,  with  all  his  crookedness,  was 
shrewd  and  keen  and  able. 

Katherine  had  not  a  doubt  that  if  she  were  com- 
pelled to  stand  face  to  face  with  him  he  would  see 

276 


THE  CIPHER  277 


through  her  disguise  at  once.  She  had  known 
enough  about  him  when  she  was  down  at  head- 
quarters to  be  aware  that  he  possessed  in  no  small 
degree  that  talent  which  is  known  to  the  police  2s 
the  "camera-eye." 

She  trembled  inwardly  lest  he  would  cross  the 
street  and  attempt  to  speak  to  her;  but  he  did  not 
do  that.  He  contented  himself  by  merely  trailing 
along  after  her — and  for  what  reason,  or  why  he 
should  take  it  upon  himself  to  watch  her  at  all,  she 
could  not  attempt  to  guess. 

She  went  directly  to  her  boarding-house  in 
Twenty-first  Street,  and,  although  she  was  not  able 
after  that  to  see  him  from  any  of  the  windows,  she 
was  nevertheless  certain  that  he  was  on  the  watch, 
or  that  he  had  arranged  for  another  man  to  do  the 
watching  for  him. 

Twice  she  went  to  the  telephone  with  the  inten- 
tion of  calling  up  the  "chief,"  but  each  time  aban- 
doned it;  and  at  last  she  determined  to  remain 
quietly  in  her  own  room  until  ten  o'clock,  or  about 
that  time,  and  then  to  summon  a  taxi  and  have  her- 
self driven  boldly  to  the  banker's  house.  She  would 
get  possession  of  the  plans  in  that  way,  and  would 
trust  to  the  opportunities  of  the  morrow  to  pass 
them  along  to  the  chief. 

In  the  meantime,  as  it  developed  later,  the  chief 
would  not  have  been  at  his  office  to  receive  a  mes- 
sage had  she  sent  one,  because  a  little  before  three 


278      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

in  the  afternoon  he  had  been  called  on  the  tele- 
phone by  quite  another  person,  and  had  gone  out 
soon  after  that. 

His  first  destination  was  the  "little  house  on  the 
roof"  of  the  warehouse,  and  when  he  had  climbed 
to  it  and  tapped  against  the  door  he  did  not  seem 
at  all  surprised  to  find  Tom  Clancy,  as  well  as  Bing- 
ham  Harvard,  apparently  awaiting  him. 

"We  thought  you  would  do  one  thing  or  the 
other,  chief" — Tom  grinned  at  him — "telephone  or 
come  here  yourself.  You  were  so  dead  certain  that 
I  would  be  gobbled  up  by  the  cops,  and  have  some- 
thing framed  on  me  and  be  sent  away,  that  I 
thought  I'd  let  you  sweat  for  a  while  over  my  dis- 
appearance. That  is  why  I  persuaded  Bing  not 
to  say  anything  about  my  being  here  when  you 
called  up  at  noon  to-day.  What's  on  your  mind?" 

"I  have  been  talking  on  the  telephone  with 
Banta,"  he  replied,  as  he  settled  himself  on  a  chair 
and  lighted  a  huge  black  cigar. 

"Oh — then  you  are  wise  to  the  game,  are  you?" 

"Partly.  I  want  you  and  Harvard  to  tell  me  the 
rest  of  it.  I  would  like  to  know  everything  that 
occurred.  But,  first,  I  will  tell  you  this:  Banta 
told  me  that  he  has  seen  and  talked  with  both  of 
you.  He  says  that  he  is  working  now  in  Harvard's 
favor — and  he  says  a  lot  more  which  it  is  not  neces- 
sary for  me  to  repeat.  The  main  point  is  this :  He 
wants  me  to  meet  him  and  a  retired  cop  named 


THE  CIPHER  279 


Compton  in  room  1046  of  the  Hotel  Mammoth  at 
half  past  eight  o'clock  to-night.  Get  that?" 

"Yes." 

"Harvard,  I'll  take  your  judgment  rather  than 
Clancy's.  Banta  says  that  he  has  got  something  of 
vital  importance  to  tell  me — something  that  Comp- 
ton has  told  him.  Now,  in  your  opinion,  how  far 
can  I  trust  that  chap  Banta?" 

"To  the  limit,  I  should  say,"  Harvard  replied 
without  hesitation. 

"You  mean  that?" 

"Yes.  Listen!"  And  the  Night  Wind  recited 
in  detail  the  story  of  the  "society  of  crippled  cops" 
and  of  his  interview  with  them  in  Brooklyn. 

But  the  chief  shook  his  head  in  doubt,  even  after 
he  had  heard  the  story  through. 

"That's  a  foxy  bunch,"  he  said.  "The  whole 
thing  has  a  sound  that  is  too  good  to  be  true.  The 
inspector  is  a  long-headed  proposition,  and  it  would 
be  just  like  him  to  put  up  this  sort  of  a  job.  Any- 
how, I  am  going  to  room  1046  at  half  past  eight 
to  find  out  what  this  wonderful  news  is  about." 

"I  would  like  to  hear  it,  too,"  Harvard  said. 
"Why  not  send  word  to  Banta  and  Compton  to 
come  down  here  instead?" 

"And  give  away  your  hiding-place?" 

"I  will  trust  both  of  them,  chief,  to  the  limit, 
as  I  said  a  moment  ago." 

"All  right.     "I'll  take  a  chance  if  you  will.    You 


g8Q      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

have  seen  them  and  talked  with  them;  I  haven't. 
Say,  Clancy?" 

"Well?" 

"Suppose  you  chase  yourself  up  to  the  Mam- 
moth and  find  them  ?  They  were  in  that  room  when 
they  telephoned  to  me,  and  are  probably  there  now. 
If  they  are  not  you  can  wait  around  until  they  show 
up.  You  can  bring  both  of  them  down  here  as 
soon  as  it  is  dark." 

"Are  you  going  to  stay  here  yourself  until  I  get 
back?"  Tom  asked,  rising. 

"Yes.  I  want  to  go  over  that  cipher  memoranda 
of  Rushton's  that  Harvard  has  been  working  on. 
I'll  slip  out  presently  and  bring  in  something  to  eat ; 
and,  anyhow,  we  will  have  enough  to  talk  over  to 
keep  us  busy.  Don't  bring  them  here  till  after  dark ; 
that's  all." 

As  soon  as  Tom  was  gone  Harvard  brought  out 
the  cipher  upon  which  he  had  been  working  and 
spread  the  papers  on  the  table.  From  among  them 
he  selected  one  sheet  which  he  had  captioned  at 
the  top  with  the  word  "Recapitulation." 

"You  can  put  all  the  others  in  your  pocket, 
chief,"  he  said.  "I'm  not  going  to  bother  you 
with  the  details.  You  can  go  over  them  at  your 
leisure.  The  cipher  is  very  simple  and  easy  to 
work  out,  save  for  a  few  arbitrary  signs ;  and  those 
arbitrary  signs  in  each  case  refer  to  the  names  of 
persons  without  a  doubt." 


THE  CIPHER  281 


"Go  ahead,"  the  chief  replied.  "Give  me  the 
summary  of  it  all." 

"First,  then:  Within  ten  days  after  those  pack- 
ages of  money  were  taken  from  the  Centropolis 
Bank  Rodney  Rushton  made  significant  deposits 
of  cash  in  four  different  banks  in  this  city— the 
banks  that  you  already  have  a  list  of." 

"All  right.     Fire  away,  Harvard!" 

"The  four  deposits  were  made  two  days  apart — 
the  first  one  was  two  days  after  we  lost  the  money, 
the  last  one  was  ten  days  after  it.  Those  four  de- 
posits were  in  sums  of  seventeen  thousand  dollars 
each.  Four  times  seventeen  are  sixty-eight,  and 
sixty-eight  is  one-half  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
six.  The  amount  of  money  lost  in  those  three  stolen 
packages  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand 
dollars.  Does  that  mean  anything  to  you,  chief? 
Does  that  suggest  anything?" 

"By  jingo,  Harvard,  I  should  say  so!" 

"It  looks  to  me,  chief,  as  if  Rodney  Rushton 
knew  that  that  money  was  to  disappear  before  it 
was  stolen.  It  looks  to  me  as  if  he  claimed  half  of 
all  of  it  as  his  share  of  the  theft.  How  does  it 
look  to  you?" 

"It  looks  good  to  me,  if  anybody  should  ask 
you.  Rushton  got  the  money;  that's  a  lead-pipe 
cinch.  Anyhow,  he  got  half  of  it  and  soaked  it 
away.  But,  Harvard,  it  is  a  sure  thing  that  he 
didn't  steal  it  out  of  the  cage.  Who  did  that?" 


282        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Harvard  referred  to  his  "Recapitulation,"  and  re- 
plied : 

"A  person  who  is  referred  to  here  as  *Z.  G.f  got 
eighteen  thousand,  a  person  known  as  'K.  N.'  got 
twenty-five  thousand,  as  also  did  another  individ- 
ual who  is  entered  under  the  letters  *S.  X.' ' 

"And  you  have  no  idea  as  to  whom  those  initial 
letters  may  refer?" 

"None.    They  are  evidently  used  arbitrarily." 

"Do  not  any  of  them  suggest  to  you  the  name  of 
any  person  who  is  employed  at  the  bank?" 

"No." 

"What  else  have  you  got  there  on  that  sheet  of 
paper  ?" 

"Oh,  records  of  other  deposits  that  Rushton  has 
made  from  time  to  time.  He  has  evidently  been 
grafting  in  all  directions.  Here,  take  it  and  put  it 
in  your  pocket  with  the  rest  of  them.  We  are  not 
much  nearer  the  real  goal  than  we  were  before — 
unless  I  should  pick  Rushton  up  in  my  arms  some 
fine  night  and  carry  him  off  to  a  secluded  spot  and 
make  him  talk.  I  might  scare  him  into  telling  me 
the  whole  thing." 

"No.  You  could  not  do  that.  I  have  got  a  list 
of  all  the  employees  at  the  bank  at  my  office.  I 
will  go  over  it  when  I  get  a  chance.  These  initial 
letters  have  some,  more  or  less,  direct  reference 
to  names.  They  would  not  be  entirely  arbitrary." 

"Here  is  a  list  that  I  have  made  from  memory," 


THE  CIPHER  283 


Harvard    said.     "Suppose    you    light    a    fresh    cigar 
and  sit  over  there  in  the  corner  and  try  it  out  now." 

It  was  ten  minutes  to  nine  o'clock  that  evening 
when  Clancy  reappeared,  and  he  brought  Banta  and 
Compton  with  him.  The  Night  Wind  and  the  chief 
had  used  up  the  intervening  time  in  going  over  and 
over  Rushton's  figures  and  memoranda — and  also 
in  eating  heartily  of  food  which  the  chief  went 
outside  to  procure. 

"My  suggestion  may  or  it  may  not  impress  you 
as  important,  Mr.  Harvard,"  Banta  said  as  soon  as 
the  preliminary  greetings  were  over.  "But  here  it 
is  for  whatever  it  proves  to  be  worth : 

"Compton,  here,  was  a  joiner  by  trade,  and  an 
expert  one,  before  he  became  a  cop.  He  has  told 
me — he  says  he  told  Mr.  Clancy  also — that  he 
worked  several  weeks  on  the  inside  of  the  Centropo- 
lis  Bank  Building  when  it  was  put  up  ten  years  ago. 
He  says  that  there  is  a  space  six  feet  high  between 
the  ceiling  over  the  bank,  and  another  ceiling  over 
that  one.  He  says  that  the  underceiling  is  littered 
with  what  he  calls  'watch-holes,'  where,  at  any 
one  of  them,  a  man  who  is  stationed  there  for  the 
purpose  may  sit  or  lie  at  his  ease  and  observe  every 
slightest  motion  that  takes  place  beneath  him  in 
the  bank.  Do  you  get  me,  chief?" 

Redhead  nodded.  "I  know  of  a  dozen  banks 
between  here  and  Frisco  that  are  equipped  in  that 


*84>      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

manner,"  he  said.  "I  confess  that  I  had  not 
thought  of  the  Centropolis  in  that  connection.  But 
the  idea  is  full  of  possibilities,  Banta — and  we  can- 
not settle  a  single  one  of  them  here  by  ourselves. 
I  understand  perfectly  what  you  are  driving  at. 
Are  you  game — you  and  Compton — to  go  with  me 
right  now  to  Chester's  house  and  to  stand  by  me 
when  I  put  this  whole  question  up  to  him?" 

"That  is  what  we  are  here  for,  chief." 

"You  see,"  the  chief  remarked,  half  to  himself, 
"if  Chester's  bank  makes  use  of  those  watch-holes 
right  along  every  day  in  the  week,  this  discovery 
won't  amount  to  much ;  but  if  it  should  happen  that 
they  haven't  been  of  much  use,  and  have  been  there- 
fore practically  abandoned,  except  perhaps  on  pay- 
roll days,  like  Saturdays,  we  will  be,  I  should  say, 
on  the  track  of  one  of  the  mysteries.  Come  along, 
Banta.  Come  on,  Compton." 

"Can  Bing  and  I  go  along,  too,  chief?"  Clancy 
asked. 

"No.  You  two  stay  where  you  are.  You  are 
both  like  red  rags  to  a  bull  when  Chester  sees  either 
of  you,"  and  he  led  the  way  out  of  the  little  house 
on  the  roof. 

Harvard  stretched  himself  and  yawned  after  they 
had  gone.  Then  he  seized  his  hat. 

"Come  on,  Tom,"  he  said.  "I  need  exercise.  We 
will  trail  along  and  keep  tabs  on  the  outside  of 
Chester's  house  while  they  are  inside.  I  feel  just 


THE  CIPHER  885 


as  though  something  had  happened,  or  was  going  to 
happen  mighty  soon.  Anyhow,  I  need  the  air. 
Come  on." 

At  approximately  the  same  time  Lady  Kate  came 
out  of  the  boarding-house  in  Twenty-first  Street 
and  entered  a  taxicab  that  she  had  ordered  by  tele- 
phone. 

Her  destination,  as  we  already  know,  was  Ches- 
ter's house.  Lieutenant  Rushton,  in  another  cab 
that  he  had  summoned  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  first 
one  appear,  followed — for,  while  Rushton  did  not 
suspect  that  Erin  Caton  was  Lady  Kate,  he  had 
discovered  the  resemblance  between  them  with  his 
camera-eye,  and  he  suspected  relationship. 

He  was  convinced  that  Erin  Caton  would  lead 
him  to  Lady  Kate. 


CHAPTER    XXXI 

IN  FRONT  OF  CHESTER'S  HOUSE 

Katharine  got  there  first.  She  dismissed  her 
cab,  telling  the  driver  to  return  in  an  hour. 

Chester  opened  the  door  for  her  himself,  and 
did  it  before  she  could  ring.  He  had,  in  fact,  been 
watching  from  one  of  the  windows  for  her  arrival; 
and  he  had  taken  the  precaution  to  send  away  the 
servants  who  would  respond  to  a  summons  at  the 
door,  though  just  why  he  had  done  that  he  could 
not  have  told. 

He  would  have  greeted  Katherine  with  too  ap- 
parent eagerness  if  she  had  not  observed  instantly 
who  it  was  that  opened  the  door  and  warned  him. 

"Be  careful,"  she  cautioned.  "I  am  afraid  that 
I  was  followed,"  and  she  passed  inside  and  the  door 
was  closed. 

Outside,  half  a  block  away,  Rushton  thrust  his 
head  out  of  a  cab-window,  saw  what  house  Lady 
Kate  had  entered,  and  muttered: 

"I  wonder  what  in  thunder  that  means  ?  What 
286 


IN  FRONT  OF  CHESTER'S  HOUSE       287 

does  that  guy  mean  by  goin'  there  to  Chester's 
ranch? — for  if  he  ain't  some  relation  to  Lady  Kate 
I'll  eat  a  raw  dog  for  my  next  meal !" 

He  called  to  his  chauffeur  to  stay  where  he  was 
till  further  orders,  then  lighted  a  cigar,  and  set- 
tled himself  to  the  enjoyment  of  it  while  he  waited 
and  watched. 

Ten  minutes  later  three  men  swung  around  the 
corner  nearest  to  him  and  walked  rapidly  up  the 
avenue  to  Chester's  house,  where  they  hurried  up 
the  steps;  and  Rushton,  observing  them  closely  as 
they  passed  him,  opened  his  jaws  to  swear  his  as- 
tonishment again — only  this  time  he  made  no 
sound. 

"Banta,  by  all  that's  sizzlin'!  And  with  Red- 
head at  that!  And  them  goin'  to  Chester's  house! 
And  together!  Now,  what  do  you  know  about 
that?  And  who's  that  other  guy?  He  looked  like 

a  cop  in  plain I've  got  it!  That  was  Comp- 

ton — 'the  boob  that  turned  in  his  shield  the  other 
day!  Say,  Rod,  old  man" — addressing  himself 
audibly — "what  kind  of  a  stuss  game  are  you  up 
against,  anyhow?" 

He  waited  and  watched,  wondering  the  while 
why  the  banker  did  not  admit  the  three  men,  for, 
although  the  minutes  passed  and  they  continued  to 
press  the  button  at  the  door,  nobody  responded. 

Rushton  could  see  that  the  three  men  on  the  door- 
step were  as  greatly  surprised  as  he  was  that  no- 


£88      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

body  answered  their  ring,  and  he  chuckled  to  him- 
self. 

"I  guess  maybe  I  don't  know  just  how  to  read 
this  riddle — not  all  of  it,"  he  told  himself.  "The 
first  part  of  it  is  easy  enough,  unless  I'm  clear  up 
a  tree.  Lady  Kate  has  fixed  it  up  somehow  so's 
her  brother,  'r  cousin,  'r  whatever  he  is,  could  go 
to  work  in  the  bank,  and  now  they're  trying  to 
bring  old  Chester  around  to  seein'  things  their  way. 
Much  good  it'll  do  'em.  He  don't  see  nothin'  down 
there  about  that  Harvard  business  that  /  don't 
point  out  to  him." 

Down  the  avenue,  a  block  farther  away,  and 
hence  behind  Rushton,  so  that  he  did  not  observe 
them,  two  men  sprang  over  the  park  wall  at  the 
opposite  side  of  the  thoroughfare;  and  one  of  them 
said  to  the  other  as  they  hurried  to  get  to  where 
the  trees  would  hide  them  from  view : 

"I  guess  Chester  must  be  out,  Bing." 

"There  would  be  somebody  there  to  answer  the 
bell,  even  if  he  is  out,"  Harvard  replied. 

"Then  he  has  seen  them  from  a  window,  recog- 
nized who  it  is,  and  won't  admit  them." 

"That  sounds  more  like  it." 

"Tell  you  what  I'll  do,  Bing;  Til  bet  a  house 
and  lot  against  a  steamboat  that  Redhead  will  stay 
right  where  he  is  until  he  does  get  inside.  Oh,  I 
know  him,  all  right!" 


IN  FRONT  OF  CHESTER'S  HOUSE       289 

"Who  do  you  suppose  is  inside  of  that  taxicab?" 
Harvard  asked,  after  a  moment. 

"Give  it  up,  old  chap.    Nobody,  most  likely." 

"There  is  somebody  inside  of  it,  all  the  same. 
My  eyes  are  accustomed  to  seeing  things  in  this 
half-light,  and  I  just  saw  tobacco  smoke  coming 
out  of  the  window  of  it." 

"The  chauffeur  is  smoking,  likely  enough,  while 
he  waits  for  his  fare." 

"He  is  smoking — a  cigarette.  I  can  see  him. 
The  other  smoke  came  out  of  the  window." 

"Well,  what  of  it?" 

"Nothing;  only  I'd  like  to  know  who  it  is,  Tom. 
I  have  got  a  hunch  that  it  is  somebody  who  is 
watching  Chester's  house." 

"Maybe  it  is  your  bosom  friend,  Rushton,"  Tom 
Clancy  said,  and  laughed.  He  had  not  the  least 
idea  in  the  world  that  he  had  guessed  correctly. 
Neither  had  Harvard.  "Hello!"  Tom  said,  a  mo- 
ment later.  "Redhead  has  camped  out. 

"Banta  and  Compton  have  seated  themselves  on 
the  steps,  and  the  chief  is  still  pushing  the  button. 
Ah!  There  you  are,  Bing!  The  door  has  been 
opened.  There  they  go,  all  three  of  them,  inside. 
Now,  what,  I  wonder?" 

"I  would  give  a  pair  of  old  shoes  to  know  who 
is  inside  of  that  cab  over  there,"  Harvard  said,  in 
reply.  "For  a  nickel  I'd  go  across  the  avenue  and 
find  out." 


290      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

Calmly,  deliberately,  and  with  a  broad  grin  on 
his  face,  Tom  Clancy  took  a  nickel  from  the  change 
pocket  of  his  coat  and  offered  it  to  Harvard. 

In  the  mean  time,  inside  of  the  house,  Katherine 
had  followed  Chester  into  the  same  library  which 
had  already  been  the  scene  of  so  many  incidents  in 
the  career  of  the  Night  Wind. 

The  banker  had  already  prepared  the  plans  for 
her  to  see.  They  were  on  the  library  table,  and 
he  had  been  poring  over  them  himself  while  he 
awaited  her  coming. 

"There  they  are,"  he  said.  "There  are  quite  a 
number  of  them,  as  you  will  see.  I  have  been  look- 
ing them  over  myself.  Look!"  He  selected  one 
of  them  and  spread  it  open  on  the  table.  "Here" 
— he  indicated  with  his  forefinger — "is  one  of  the 
secrets  I  referred  to  to-day.  Nothing  ever  came 
of  its  use,  however.  We  never  use  it,  only  on  Sat- 
urdays, when  our  depositors  are  drawing  large  sums 
in  small  bills  and  in  coin  to  pay  off  their  help." 

"What  is  it?"  Katherine  asked,  bending  down 
over  the  plan. 

The  banker  laughed  lightly. 

"We  call  it  the  observatory,"  he  replied.  "It  is 
a  space,  six  feet  high,  above  the  ceiling  over  the 
banking  room  and  beneath  the  floor  of  the  next 
story.  The  bank  proper,  as  you  may  have  noticed, 
is  very  high,  made  so  for  proper  ventilation.  It 
takes  in  two  full  stories." 


IN  FRONT  OF  CHESTER'S  HOUSE       291 

"But  what  is  it  used  for?"  Katharine  insisted, 
puzzled;  "that  space  between  the  ceiling  and  the 
floor  above  it.  What  use  do  you  make  of  it  ?" 

"Almost  none  at  all,  as  a  matter  of  fact,"  he  re- 
plied. "All  the  same,  it  is  a  cleverly  devised  means 
for  observing  all  that  goes  on  within  the  bank,  with- 
out the  observers  being  seen  or  their  presence  sus- 
pected. Many  of  the  larger  banks  have  arrange- 
ments of  the  same  sort — and  make  constant  use  of 
them;  to  keep  watch  on  their  own  employees,  for 
the  most  part.  It  was  used  originally  in  one  of 
the  Western  cities,"  he  explained. 

"But  I  do  not  understand,  Mr.  Chester.  How 
is  the  watching  done?" 

"Oh,  there  is  a  system  of  holes  cleverly  arranged 
so  that  they  cannot  be  seen  from  the  bank  below. 
They  are  everywhere.  There  is  one  for  every  book- 
keeper, every  teller,  every  employee.  There  are 
others  which  command  more  extensive  views,  tak- 
ing in  several  of  the  positions  below  at  once.  And 
they  are  so  arranged  that  the  one  who  is  watch- 
ing may  sit  at  his  ease,  may  even  lie  down  at  full 
length,  if  he  cares  to  do  so,  while  he  sees  everything 
that  is  taking  place  beneath  him.  He  can  move 
about  at  will  without  making  a  sound  to  betray  his 
presence — and  so  forth,  and  so  forth.  You 
see " 

The  ringing  of  the  door-bell  interrupted  him. 

"Now,  who  can  that  be?"  he  said.  "At  all  events, 


292      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

I  shall  not  answer  it;  and  I  have  taken  care  that 
there  is  nobody  else  here  to  do  so." 

"It  may  be  some  person  who  followed  me  here," 
Katherine  suggested. 

"Hardly.  Such  a  person  would  scarcely  ring  for 
admittance." 

"Probably  not ;  unless — unless  it  should  be  Lieu- 
tenant Rushton,  and  he  has  recognized  me  in  spite 
of  the  disguise." 

"Rushton?  Rushton?  What  would  he  be  fol- 
lowing you  for?" 

"I  don't  know.  He  was  waiting  in  the  street 
when  I  left  the  bank  this  afternoon.  He  followed 
me,  I  am  sure,  to  my  boarding-house.  More  than 
likely  he  remained  on  the  watch,  and  has  pursued 
me  even  here.  Listen.  It  is  ringing  again." 

"Well,  let  him  ring — if  it  is  Rushton.  There  is 
no  reason  why  I  should  admit  him." 

They  attempted  to  give  their  attention  again  to 
the  plans,  but  the  persistent  ringing  at  the  door 
disturbed  them  both;  for  the  chief,  outside,  was 
perfectly  satisfied  in  his  own  mind  that  somebody 
was  at  home,  and  that  before  long  somebody  would 
come  to  the  door. 

"I  wonder  if  that  is  Rushton?"  the  banker  re- 
marked, when  the  constant  ringing  of  the  bell  was 
beginning  to  get  on  their  nerves.  "I  think  I  will 
try  to  find  out  who  it  is." 


IN  FRONT  OF  CHESTER'S  HOUSE       293 

"You  won't  open  the  door  if  it  is  Rushton,  will 
you?  Please  don't." 

"No.  More  than  likely  I  will  not  open  it  at  all. 
But  from  the  drawing-room  windows  I  will  be 
able  to  get  a  view  of  the  greater  part  of  the  steps. 
Wait  here,  Mrs.  Harvard,  till  I  return." 

She  waited,  pacing  impatiently  up  and  down  the 
room  in  the  mean  time.  Chester  came  back  very 
soon. 

"There  are  two  men  on  the  steps  whom  I  do  not 
know,  but  they  seem  determined  to  wait  until  some- 
body opens  the  door.  They  were  just  about  to  seat 
themselves  on  the  steps  as  I  looked  out  at  them. 
There  must  be  a  third  one  who  is  ringing  the  bell. 
It  is  possible — it  is  just  possible  that  there  may  be 
something  wrong — that  I  really  should  go  to  the 
door,"  he  said  rapidly. 

"Wait,"  she  said,  beginning  to  gather  the  plans 
into  a  roll.  "I  will  take  these  away  with  me,  if 
I  may.  I  will  study  them  when  I  get  to  my  room 
at  the  boarding-house." 

"But — are  you  going?  I  wish  you  would  not. 
There  is  so  much  that  I  wish  to  say." 

"Really  I  think  I  must ;  and  it  is  late.  I  will  step 
into  the  reception-room  while  you  open  the  front 
door.  Then,  if  you  will  direct  your  callers  to  this 
room,  I  will  slip  out  as  soon  as  they  have  entered 
here.  By  to-morrow  evening  I  will  have  studied 
the  plans  thoroughly,  and  will  have  had  time  to 


294      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

think,  too;  and  if  I  may,  I  will  come  here  to  see 
you  again." 

She  gave  him  her  hand,  and  he  bent  gallantly 
over  it,  like  the  gentleman  of  the  old  school  that  he 
was,  and  touched  his  lips  to  her  fingers,  entirely 
forgetful  of  the  fact  that  she  was  garbed  as  a  man. 

Katherine  passed  swiftly  through  the  foyer  and 
into  the  reception-room  at  the  south  side  of  it. 
Chester  waited  until  she  had  partly  closed  the  door 
and  then  threw  wide  the  front  entrance. 

"Please  pass  right  through  into  the  library,  gen- 
tlemen," Chester  said  at  once,  "and  then  perhaps 
you  will  explain  to  me  the  reason  for  this  persistent 
ringing  of  my  door-bell." 

Lady  Kate  heard  the  voice  of  Banta  reply  to 
Chester  with  some  casual  remark,  and  she  recog- 
nized it;  and,  knowing  nothing  of  his  change  of 
heart  and  condition,  she  had  not  a  doubt  that  one  of 
the  other  two  men  who  were  with  him  was  Rush- 
ton. 

She  heard  the  library  choor  close  behind  them,  and 
knew  that  Chester  had  done  that  to  guard  her 
escape  from  the  house;  and  so  she  glided  from  the 
obscurity  of  the  reception-room,  opened  the  outer 
door  silently,  passed  outside,  closed  it  again,  and 
ran  hastily  down  the  steps. 

Down  the  avenue,  half  a  block  away,  she  saw  a 
taxicab,  and  supposed  it  to  be  the  one  she  had  or- 


IN  FRONT  OF  CHESTER'S  HOUSE       295 

dered  back  again  in  an  hour.     It  was  exactly  like 
it,  she  thought.     At  all  events,  it  was  a  cab. 

She  gave  a  sigh  of  relief  and  started  toward  it, 
little  thinking  that  her  arch-enemy  Rushton  was 
seated  inside  of  it,  patiently  awaiting  this  very  op- 
portunity. 


CHAPTER   XXXII 
LADY  KATE'S  DISGUISE  UNCOVERED 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Tom  Clancy  offered 
the  nickel  to  the  Night  Wind  a  moment  only  after 
the  "chief,"  followed  by  Banta  and  Compton,  were 
admitted  to  the  banker's  house. 

Of  course,  Harvard's  expression  that  for  a  nickel 
he  would  find  out  who  was  inside  of  the  cab,  and 
Clancy's  tender  of  the  coin,  was  mere  banter  on 
both  sides;  and  yet  the  mood  was  upon  Harvard 
to  carry  out  his  end  of  the  offer,  and  so  without 
more  ado  he  started  forward  through  the  shrubbery 
and  leaped  the  park  wall  at  the  very  moment  that 
Lady  Kate,  in  her  guise  of  Erin  Caton,  came  out 
of  Chester's  house. 

Neither  Harvard  nor  Clancy  had  any  idea  that 
the  cab  was  standing  idle  where  it  did  for  any  other 
purpose  than  to  await  some  customer  who  was 
calling  at  one  of  the  houses  near  Chester's. 

But  we  know  that  Rushton  was  inside  of  it;  we 

know  that  he  had  followed  the  supposed  Erin  Ca- 

296 


LADY  KATE'S  DISGUISE  UNCOVERED  297 

ton  to  Chester's  house,  believing  that  that  person 
was  a  man  who  was  related  to  Lady  Kate  and  would 
lead  him  ultimately  to  her. 

We  know  how  puzzled  Rushton  was  by  the  com- 
ing of  the  chief  and  Banta — who  had  formerly 
been  one  of  Rushton's  side-partners — and  Comp- 
ton. 

While  he  sat  inside  of  the  cab  and  smoked  and 
waited  and  watched,  he  had  eyes  for  nothing  save 
what  was  going  on  at  that  house  and  on  the  steps 
of  it;  for  his  mind  had  been  busily  engaged  in 
putting  two  and  two  together  while  he  waited,  and 
he  had  already  figured  it  out  that  the  entire  cir- 
cumstance, taken  as  a  whole,  was  not  exactly  prom- 
ising to  himself. 

That  Erin  Caton,  the  new  teller  at  the  bank, 
should  visit  the  home  of  the  president  at  ten  o'clock 
at  night,  and  apparently  in  secret,  instead  of  trans- 
acting such  business  as  he  might  have  at  the  bank 
and  during  banking  hours,  was  of  itself  ominous; 
but  that  he  should  be  followed  there  by  no  less  a 
person  than  the  head  of  the  most  important  private 
detective  agency  in  New  York — and  by  Banta! — it 
all  looked  to  Rushton  as  though  they  were  getting 
something  "on  him." 

Thus,  when  Lady  Kate  came  out  of  the  house 
at  almost  the  same  instant  that  Harvard  leaped 
the  park  wall,  Rushton  had  eyes  only  for  the  figure 
on  the  steps,  and  he  did  not  turn  his  head  to  dis- 


298      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

cover  that  a  man  was  crossing  the  avenue  toward 
him  from  the  direction  of  the  park. 

Harvard  always  moved  with  that  incredible 
swiftness  which  had  in  the  past  helped  to  cloak  him 
in  so  much  mystery. 

He  was  close  to  the  rear  of  the  cab  before  Kath- 
erine  had  covered  half  the  distance  between  it  and 
Chester's  house;  and  he  peered  through  the  small, 
square  window  at  the  back,  prompted,  as  we  know, 
merely  by  curiosity. 

Rushton  was  bending  forward  with  his  head 
close  to  the  cab  door,  which  he  had  opened  a  few 
inches,  watching  the  approach  of  Erin  Caton,  other- 
wise Lady  Kate.  His  profile  was  clearly  outlined 
against  the  lights  of  the  street — and  Harvard  recog- 
nized him  instantly. 

Harvard  had  given  no  thought  to  the  person  who 
came  out  of  Chester's  home.  He  had  not  seen  that 
person  enter;  he  supposed — if  anything  at  all — 'that 
it  was  merely  an  acquaintance  of  the  banker's  who 
had  called  upon  him,  and  was  now  going  away. 

Harvard  drew  back  quickly  and  stepped  around 
to  the  street  side  of  the  cab. 

His  idea  in  doing  that  was  twofold;  he  wished, 
if  possible,  to  keep  out  of  sight  of  the  person  who 
had  just  come  from  the  banker's  house,  and  whom 
he  had  no  doubt  would  pass  on — and  he  determined 
in  that  instant  to  have  a  word  with  Rushton. 


LADY  KATE'S  DISGUISE  UNCOVERED   299 

In  the  mean  time  Lady  Kate  mistook  the  waiting 
cab  for  her  own  hired  one  that  had  returned. 

She  approached  it  rapidly.  She  stopped  beside 
the  chauffeur  and  addressed  him;  and  when  Har- 
vard, waiting  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  cab,  heard 
the  voice,  he  gasped  with  amazement. 

Lady  Kate  had  not  neglected  to  deepen  it,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  disguise  she  wore — with  the  char- 
acter she  was  playing;  but  the  ears  of  love,  as  well 
as  the  eyes  of  love,  are  hard  to  deceive. 

Bingham  Harvard,  during  the  last  seven  months, 
had  listened  to  that  voice  in  every  tone  and  cadence 
it  could  express.  He  loved  every  murmur  of  it. 
He  knew  every  modulation  of  it,  as  Liszt  knew 
every  tone  of  his  violin. 

Can  you  imagine  the  thrill  that  ran  through  him 
when  he  heard  it — when  he  realized  who  it  was 
who  was  drawing  near  to  that  cab,  and  remembered 
who  it  was  who  waited  inside? 
I  "I  am  glad  that  you  returned  so  soon,  chauffeur," 
Lady  Kate  began — and  stopped.  A  closer  look  had 
developed  the  fact  that  the  man  was  not  the  chauf- 
feur who  had  taken  her  there;  and  before  he  could 
reply  she  supplemented  the  remark  by  adding :  "Ex- 
cuse me.  I  see  that  I  have  made  a  mistake",  and 
she  would  have  passed  on. 

Rushton,  however,  pushed  the  cab  door  wide 
open  and  stepped  outside,  confronting  her;  and  she 


800      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

started  back,  and  then  stood  stock-still  in  her  tracks, 
not  knowing  for  the  moment  what  to  do. 

Rushton  had  noticed  the  voice,  too;  but  he  had 
not  recognized  it  as  Harvard  did.  His  mind  was 
too  intent  upon  the  masculine  personality  of  the 
one  who  used  it.  There  was  not  the  magic  under- 
standing of  Love  to  identify  it.  Harvard,  in  the 
mean  time,  found  an  opportunity  to  peer  through 
the  cab  at  the  two  figures,  for  he  could  not  under- 
stand how  the  voice  of  Katherine  could  proceed 
from  the  mouth  of  a  man. 

"Excuse  me,  sir,"  Rushton  said  in  his  politest 
tones.  "If  you  are  in  need  of  a  cab,  I  can  let  you 
make  use  of  mine." 

"Thank  you,"  Katherine  replied  in  the  most  mas- 
culine voice  she  could  assume.  "It  is  not  at  all 
necessary." 

She  made  an  attempt  to  pass  on  her  way  then, 
but  Rushton  stepped  quickly  in  front  of  her  and 
barred  it;  and  as  he  did  that  he  also  threw  aside 
the  mask  of  courtesy. 

"I  guess  I'll  ask  you  to  use  it  whether  you  want 
to  or  not,"  he  said  with  a  half  laugh,  at  the  same 
time  throwing  back  one  side  of  his  coat  and  dis- 
playing his  official  shield.  "You'll  get  inside  of  that 
cab  and  take  a  ride  with  me,  mister,  or  I'll  throw 
you  into  it.  Take  your  choice." 

The  "mister"  reassured  Lady  Kate.  It  told  her 
that  Rushton  had  not  recognized  her — as  yet. 


LADY  KATE'S  DISGUISE  UNCOVERED  SOI 

"You  have  no  business  to  speak  to  me  in  that 
manner,"  she  retorted,  trying  to  bluster,  and  mak- 
ing rather  a  poor  success  of  it ;  and  she  would  have 
made  another  attempt  to  pass  him  had  she  not  re- 
alized that  he  would  seize  her  if  she  did  so;  and 
she  knew  that  if  once  his  hands  should  rest  upon 
her  the  secret  would  be  out. 

Rushton  chuckled. 

"Ain't  I  ?"  he  jeered.  "I  ain't  followed  you  ever 
since  you  left  the  bank  this  afternoon  for  nothin', 
Mr.  Erin  Caton.  I'm  onto  your  curves.  It's  plain 
enough  to  me,  even  if  some  others  don't  see  it,  that 
you're  a  relation  of  Lady  Kate's.  And  that's  what 
I'm  here  for.  You  are  going  to  take  me  to  see  her 
— right  now.  See?  She's  the  gazabo  that  I  wanta 
get  next  to.  Climb  inside  of  that  cab  or  I'll  chuck 
you  into  it!" 

He  stepped   forward  toward  her  threateningly. 

She  darted  backward  out  of  his  reach  and  away 
from  him  and  turned  to  run.  But  she  ran  plump 
into  the  outstretched  arms  of  Tom  Clancy,  who 
appeared  at  that  instant,  running  likewise,  from  the 
opposite  side  of  the  avenue. 

Rushton  leaped  after  her  when  she  started  to 
escape  from  him — that  is,  he  attempted  to  do  so. 
But  he  did  not  take  even  so  much  as  one  jump; 
he  only  started  to  make  it. 

A  hand  fell  heavily  upon  his  shoulder  from  be- 
hind. Resistless  fingers  grasped  his  collar  and 


302        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

jerked  him  forward.  A  foot  dexterously  thrust 
forward  tripped  him,  and  he  found  himself  lying 
upon  his  back  on  the  pavement,  looking  up  into  the 
eyes  of  Bingham  Harvard,  alias  the  Night  Wind, 
who  was  bending  over  him. 

Rushton's  sensations  in  that  instant  of  discovery 
can  better  be  imagined  than  described.  Instinc- 
tively he  realized  that  it  was  up  to  him  to  remain 
perfectly  still,  and  he  did  so. 

Lady  Kate  was  no  less  startled,  in  one  way,  than 
Rushton. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  moment  might  have 
proved  a  tragic  one  for  the  lieutenant  had  it  not 
been  for  the  irrepressible  humor  of  Tom  Clancy; 
for  Rushton  had  affronted  Katherine,  and  Harvard 
had  heard  it. 

But  Clancy  saw  the  funny  side  of  it  all,  and 
laughed.  That  laugh  of  his  saved  the  situation. 

Katherine  laughed  also — a  bit  nervously,  perhaps 
— and  the  ripple  of  it  that  Harvard  so  greatly  loved 
to  hear  brought  a  smile  to  his  own  face.  His  quick 
wit,  also,  brought  him  to  an  instant  understanding 
of  the  situation. 

Almost  at  the  same  instant  the  chauffeur  of  the 
cab  had  a  hunch  that  that  immediate  vicinity  was 
unhealthy  for  him.  He  knew  that  his  fare  was  a 
fly-cop  and  had  been  suddenly  attacked  by  two  men 
who  had  appeared  from  the  other  side  of  the  park 


LADY  KATE'S  DISGUISE  UNCOVERED  303 

wall.  He  had  visions  of  gunmen  getting  square  on 
squealers. 

He  jumped  down  from  his  seat  the  minute  the 
incipient  row  began,  cranked  his  engine,  sprang 
back,  and  the  taxicab  sped  away  from  the  four  per- 
sons on  the  sidewalk  as  if  it  were  shot  out  of  a  gun. 

Nor  did  any  one  of  them  attempt  to  stop  it.  The 
effort  would  have  been  useless  at  best,  and  it  was 
unnecessary. 

Harvard  frisked  the  lieutenant  for  his  weapons 
and  relieved  him  of  them.  Then  he  jerked  Rush- 
ton  to  his  feet.  But,  nevertheless,  his  eyes  stared 
past  the  detective  toward  Erin  Caton,  while  a  slow 
smile  appeared  again  upon  his  countenance. 

"I  heard  you  addressed  as  Mr.  Erin  Caton  just 
now,"  he  said  with  a  half  drawl  in  his  tone.  "This 
person  here,  who  thinks  he  is  some  detective, 
seemed  to  want  you  to  conduct  him  to  the  presence 
of  Lady  Kate  of  the  Police ;  so  I  guess  it  is  up  to 
you,  Katherine,  to  decide  what  we  will  do  with  him 
now  that  we've  got  him." 

"I  think  we  had  better  keep  him,"  Katherine  re- 
plied instantly.  "He  has  had  rope  enough ;  and  his 
race  is  almost  run.  Wait  a  moment.  There  is  a 
taxicab  coming  around  the  corner.  Perhaps  it  is 
the  one  I  used,  returning." 

Then  they  were  treated  to  another  surprise,  and 
a  most  welcome  one.  The  approaching  cab  drew 
up  at  the  curb  near  to  them,  the  driver  of  it  jumped 


304      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

down — and  Katharine  uttered  an  exclamation  of 
pleased  surprise. 

The  chauffeur  was  Black  Julius,  and  the  cab 
was  not  the  I.  T.  O.  A.  taxi  that  Katherine  had 
used,  but  her  own  car  that  had  been  made  over  in 
imitation  of  one. 

"I  disobeyed  you,  Miss  Kitty,"  Julius  explained 
rapidly.  "Instead  of  doing  what  you  told  me  to  do, 
I  was  afraid  that  you  would  need  me  near  you,  and 
so  I  waited  outside  of  the  house  when  you  sent  me 
away.  And,  Miss  Kitty,  I  didn't  carry  you  around 
in  my  arms  when  you  was  a  baby  and  I  didn't  watch 
you  grow  up  to  what  you  are  now  for  nothing, 
or  to  be  fooled  by  any  disguise,  either.  I  hope  you 
will  forgive  me,  Miss  Kitty,  but  I  haven't  been  very 
far  away  from  you  any  of  the  time." 

"But  how  do  you  happen  to  be  here  now,  Julius  ?" 
Clancy  asked  him. 

"Why,  sir,  I  just  hired  that  chauffeur  to  let  me 
take  his  place  when  he  went  to  the  house  in  Twenty- 
first  Street,  where  I  was  watching,  to  get  Miss 
Kitty ;  and  I  kept  my  head  turned  away  and  my  face 
covered  when  she  gave  the  order  to  bring  her  up 
here.  And  then  when  she  told  me  to  come  back  in 
an  hour  I  thought  she'd  be  safe  for  that  long,  and 
so  I  took  the  other  cab  back,  and  went  and  got 
Miss  Kitty's.  You  see,  sir,  I  don't  like  to  have  her 
playing  the  part  of  a  man.  It  isn't  safe.  And  so 
I  have  kept  watch." 


LADY  KATE'S  DISGUISE  UNCOVERED  305 

"Faithful  Julius,"  Harvard  said,  resting  one 
hand  for  a  moment  upon  the  black's  arm.  "You 
are  on  hand,  as  usual,  when  you  are  the  most 
needed.  You  always  keep  rope  and  cord  in  your 
tool-box.  Have  you  got  some  there  now?" 

"Yes,  sir/' 

"Get  it.  We  will  tie  up  this  thing  we've  got  here 
that  was  born  a  man  and  turned  into  a  snake.  We 
will  gag  him,  too,  if  necessary.  Then,  Tom,  you 
will  get  into  the  cab  with  him  and  take  him  to  the 
'little  house  on  the  roof  and  keep  him  there  for 
the  present.  Katherine  and  I  are  going  to  ring  the 
bell  at  Chester's  house  again,  and  we  are  going  in- 
side to  find  out  what  is  happening." 

"Oh,  Bingham "  Katherine  began  and 

stopped. 

She  would  let  the  revelation  of  Chester's  change 
of  heart  wait  just  a  little  longer. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WENT 

"Who  is  at  the  door  now?"  Chester  exclaimed 
impatiently. 

Then  he  started  quickly  to  his  feet,  for  it  oc- 
curred to  him  that  it  might  be  Katherine  returned ; 
and  now,  since  the  talk  he  had  already  had  with 
the  chief  and  his  two  companions,  the  banker 
wished  for  nothing  better  than  that  she  should  be 
there  to  hear  it. 

"I  will  go  to  the  door  with  you,"  the  chief  said, 
rising ;  and  so,  when  Katherine  pushed  forward  into 
the  foyer  as  soon  as  me  way  was  open,  and  was 
closely  followed  by  Bingham  Harvard,  the  meeting 
was  a  mutual  surprise  all  around. 

But  if  three  of  the  four  persons  who  confronted 
each  other  were  mildly  surprised,  the  fourth  one 
Was  amazed  into  utter  consternation  for  the  mo- 
ment by  the  reception  that  was  accorded  him. 

For  no  sooner  had  Harvard  stepped  across  the 
threshold,  and  Chester  discovered  who  it  was,  than 

306 


THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WENT      307 

he  rushed  forward  with  his  arms  outstretched — and 
Harvard  found  himself  the  recipient  of  a  convulsive 
embrace,  the  genuineness  of  which  could  not  be 
counterfeited. 

"My  boy!  My  boy!  My  boy!"  the  old  man  ex- 
claimed over  and  over  again,  with  a  sob  in  his 
voice,  but  with  a  joy  that  was  unmistakable.  "For- 
give me,  Bingham;  I  was  wrong;  all  wrong.  I 
know  it  now;  it  is  all  plain.  I  have  been  a  fool — 
oh,  such  a  fool — my  boy !  But  say  that  it  is  all  right 
now.  Say  that  you  will  forgive  me,  Bingham.  I 
want  you  to  love  me  again,  just  as  you  used  to  do. 
And  I  want  Katherine  to  love  me,  too.  I  want 
you  both.  Oh,  I  am  blessed  indeed,  for  now  I 
shall  have  a  daughter  as  well  as  a  son!  And  such 
a  daughter,  Bingham!" 

He  talked  so  rapidly,  so  joyously,  so  contritely, 
so  earnestly,  that  there  was  no  stopping  him;  and 
Bingham,  reaching  out  both  hands  and  resting  them 
upon  the  old  man's  shoulders,  looked  earnestly  into 
his  eyes  as  he  replied : 

"Dear  old  chap!  Dear  old  gov'nor!  That  is 
what  I  used  to  call  you  when  I  was  a  boy.  I  knew 
it  would  come  out  all  right,  sir.  I  knew  that  your 
heart  was  kind  and  good  and  just.  My  love  for 
you  has  never  faltered,  sir;  and — 'maybe  you  will 
have  almost  as  much  to  forgive  as  I." 

Katherine  stepped  forward  quickly  and  threw 
her  arms  around  Chester's  neck,  and  there  was  not 


one  of  them  who  remembered  in  that  moment  the 
garb  she  was  wearing. 

"I  will  love  you,  too,  Mr.  Chester — very  dearly, 
if  you  will  let  me,"  she  said,  and  she  kissed  the  old 
man  on  the  lips. 

"Why,"  he  exclaimed,  stepping  back  a  pace  away 
from  her,  "I  feel  like  a  boy  again !  I  never  expected 
to  be  as  happy  as  I  am  at  this  moment.  Chief,  why 
don't  you  say  something,  eh?" 

"I  will,"  the  chief  replied,  running  his  fingers 
through  his  red  hair.  "I  think  we  had  better  get 
back  to  business.  Banta  and  Compton  will  be  won- 
dering what  has  happened." 

"There  is  one  thing  that  I  ought  to  tell  you  at 
once,"  Harvard  said  as  soon  as  they  were  all  in 
the  library  together  and  greetings  had  been  ex- 
changed. "Clancy  and  I,  with  the  assistance  of 
Black  Julius,  have  just  tied  up  Rushton  good  and 
snug,  and  Clancy  has  taken  him  to  the  little  house 
on  the  roof.  I  thought,  chief,  that  seeing  as  we 
had  him,  it  would  not  be  a  bad  idea  to  keep  him. 
What  do  you  think  about  it  ?" 

"I  think  it  is  splendid,  Harvard.  When  we  get 
through  here  we  will  give  Mr.  Rodney  Rushton  a 
hearty  mouthful  of  one  of  his  own  favorite  prac- 
tices." 

"What  is  that?"  Katherine  asked. 

"They  call  it  the  'third  degree,'  "  was  the  sig- 


THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WENT      309 

nificant  reply.  Then  the  chief  turned  abruptly  to 
Harvard. 

"You  came  at  the  right  moment,"  he  said.  "We 
have  arrived  at  a  point  where  we  need  your  per- 
sonal help.  Do  you  know  anything  about  the  so- 
called  observation-room  directly  above  the  bank?" 

"No,"  Harvard  replied,  and  glanced  inquiringly 
toward  the  banker.  But  Lady  Kate  put  forward 
the  roll  of  plans  that  she  had  carried  from  the  house 
with  her  and  from  which  she  had  not  relinquished 
her  hold  throughout  all  the  scenes  that  had  been 
enacted. 

"Good,"  said  the  chief  and  unrolled  the  plans, 
selected  two  of  them,  laid  them  down  side  by  side, 
and  bent  over  them.  "Here  we  have  it,"  he  added 
presently.  "Now,  Harvard,  come  here." 

"I  am  here  already." 

"Well" — the  chief  indicated  locations  on  the 
plans  with  the  point  of  his  pencil — "this  is  the  so- 
called  observation-room  over  the  bank.  This  part 
is  the  floor-plan.  Here  and  here  and  here  and  here 
— all  of  these  marks — are  the  watch-holes  through 
the  ceiling  of  the  bank." 

"Why,  gov'nor,  I  never  knew  anything  about 
this!"  Harvard  exclaimed,  turning  his  eyes  toward 
Chester. 

"Never  mind  that  fact  now,"  the  chief  said. 
"Watch  me.  Compton,  who  helped  to  fit  up  the 
observation  room,  has  explained  it  to  me  in  detail, 


310      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

and  since  my  talk  with  him  and  Mr.  Chester  these 
plans  make  it  all  very  clear.  Got  that?" 

"Yes,"  said  Harvard.  They  were  all  grouped 
closely  around  the  table  by  then. 

"This,"  the  chief  went  on,  indicating  another  of 
the  plans,  "is  the  finished  floor-space  of  the  bank 
itself;  and  right  here  is  the  cage  of  the  paying- 
teller." 

"I  see,"  Harvard  said  eagerly.     "I  understand." 

"Well,  if  we  place  these  two  plans  so  on  the 
table  they  fit,  one  above  the  other,  just  the  same  as 
to  position  as  the  observation-room  fits  over  the 
bank.  Now,  here  is  a  foot-rule ;  Lere  is  the  teller's 
cage;  and  here,  according  to  a  drawing  that  you 
made  yourself  and  which  Mrs.  Harvard  gave  to 
me,  is  the  spot  where  the  three  packages  of  bills 
that  were  stolen  disappeared  from.  So,  we  put  the 
foot-rule  down  here,  so  that  it  reaches  from  one 
plan  to  the  other.  We  follow  along  the  edge  of  it 
from  the  spot  where  the  packages  of  bills  were 
lying  to  this  spot  in  the  floor  of  the  observation- 
room;  and Do  you  see,  Harvard,  what  we 

find?" 

Bingham  nodded,  intent  upon  studying  the  plans. 

The  chief  continued : 

"We  find  that  by  exact  measurement  the  largest 
of  all  the  watch-holes  in  the  floor  of  the  observation- 
room  is  directly  over  the  cage  of  the  paying-teller; 
and  we  find,  by  reducing  it  to  scale,  that  the  watch- 


THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WENT      311 

hole  is  on  a  plumb-line  exactly  over  the  spot  from 
which  the  packages  of  bills  disappeared." 

The  chief  straightened  himself  where  he  stood 
and  pushed  the  plans  aside.  He  addressed  the 
banker. 

"Mr.  Chester,"  he  said,  "do  you  use  the  'in'  and 
'out'  checking  system  for  your  employees  at  the 
bank?  I  mean,  if  one  of  them  has  occasion  to  pass 
outside  of  the  screen  for  any  purpose — to  go  to  the 
wash-room,  or  to  your  own  office,  even — is  there 
somebody  who  takes  note  of  that  fact  and  who 
marks  down  the  time  of  his  going  and  the  time  of 
his  return?" 

"Certainly,"  Chester  and  Harvard  both  replied 
as  one,  and  Chester  added :  "In  an  institution  like 
ours  that  is  quite  necessary.  The  time  of  every  man 
must  be  accounted  for  to  the  exact  minute.  Not 
that  the  time  is  important  to  us  of  itself,  but — as 
in  a  case  like  the  loss  of  that  money — it  may  be- 
come necessary  that  we  should  know  the  location 
of  every  man  at  a  certain  moment  during  the  day ; 
that  is,  whether  he  was  actually  in  the  bank  and 
inside  the  screen  at  a  specified  minute." 

"Exactly.  Harvard,  how  nearly  can  you  ap- 
proximate the  minute  of  the  day  when  that  money 
was  taken?" 

"I  cannot  approximate  it  at  all.  The  packages 
of  money  were  not  missed  until  the  closing  hour." 

"Was  there  any  time  that  you  recall  during  that 


318      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

day  of  June  13,  more  than  a  year  ago,  when  one 
of  the  clerks  in  the  bank  might  have  slipped  into 
the  cage  and  out  of  it  again  without  your  knowl- 
edge?" 

"We  talked  that  aspect  of  it  over — Mr.  Chester 
and  I — before  I  was  charged  with  the  theft,"  Har- 
vard replied,  and  the  banker  winced,  but  smiled 
bravely.  "There  were  possibly,  but  not  probably, 
two  such  intervals.  One  was  of  two  minutes  or 
less;  the  other  was  of  two  or  three  minutes,  but 
by  no  possibility  more  than  three." 

"What  occasioned  those  intervals?  Do  you  re- 
member ?" 

"Perfectly.  They  happened,  in  fact,  very  close 
together." 

"At  what  time  of  the  day?" 

"At  about  half  past  two." 

"What  was  it  that  happened  to  occasion  those 
two  intervals?  You  have  not  told  me  that  yet." 

"One — the  first  one — was  caused  by  three  suc- 
cessive explosions  in  the  street  in  front  of  the  bank 
and  quite  near  to  the  door.  They  sounded  like 
pistol-shots.  I  never  knew  if  they  were  so  or  not. 
But  they  startled  everybody  inside  of  the  bank,  and 
naturally  everyone  there  raised  his  head  and  craned 
his  neck,  and  took  his  eyes  momentarily  from  his 
respective  duty  to  discover  what  was  happening  or 
had  happened.  I  figured  that  interval  as  not  ex- 


THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WENT      813 

ceeding  two  minutes  at  the  most  while  the  atten- 
tion of  the  employees  of  the  bank  was  distracted." 

"What  was  the  other  incident?" 

"It  followed  almost  immediately  after  the  first 
one — within  a  moment  or  two  or  possibly  a  little 
more.  It  was  a  fight  between  two  men.  One  man 
struck  another  one  and  they  clenched  and  fell  to 
the  floor." 

"That  happened  inside  of  the  bank?" 

"Yes." 

"Were  the  two  men  who  fought  known  at  the 
bank?" 

"I  think  not.  Badger,  our  watchman,  sailed  into 
them  immediately.  He  hustled  them  both  outside 
— literally  threw  them  into  the  street,  I  believe. 
He  is  a  powerful  man.  I  do  not  know  whether 
they  were  arrested  or  not.  My  impression  is  that 
they  were  not." 

The  chief  turned  back  again  to  the  banker. 

"Mr.  Chester,"  he  said  with  slow  emphasis, 
"those  three  packages  of  bills  were  removed  from 
the  teller's  cage  while  those  two  men  were  fighting 
and  while  Badger  was  putting  them  outside.  They 
were  taken  by  means  of  a  slender  but  stout  cord, 
probably  black,  which  was  lowered  through  that 
largest  watch-hole  in  the  floor  of  the  observation- 
room. 

"The  first  diversion  that  happened — the  pistol- 
shots  in  the  street — was  done  to  excite  the  nerves 


314        RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

of  your  employees  generally  and  to  make  them  all 
the  more  ready  to  give  attention  to  one  that  would 
follow.  They  would  naturally  associate  the  two. 

"One  of  your  employees — a  bookkeeper  or  any 
other  clerk — who  was  an  accomplice  in  the  theft 
must  have  gone  outside  of  the  screen  just  a  few 
minutes  before  either  of  the  two  incidents  described 
occurred.  He  knew  about  the  observation-room, 
and  he  made  his  way  to  it.  At  the  right  moment  he 
dropped  the  cord,  weighted  at  the  end,  through  the 
hole,  which  is  large  enough  to  admit  of  the  pas- 
sage of  a  man's  hand,  and  hence  large  enough  to 
pull  the  bills  up  through  it,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  it  is  so  cleverly  concealed  that  it  is  not 
visible  to  the  eye  from  the  floor  of  the  bank. 

"Another  of  your  employees — Harvard  or  Mor- 
daunt  or  Atkinson,  or  another  clerk  who  slipped  in- 
side of  the  cage  at  the  right  moment — snapped  a 
heavy  rubber  band  around  those  packages  of  bills 
and  inserted  under  it  a  hook  that  was  attached  to 
the  end  of  the  cord.  While  the  fight  was  going  on, 
while  Badger  was  putting  the  men  outside,  the 
money  was  pulled  up  out  of  the  teller's  cage  through 
the  hole  in  the  ceiling,  and  the  deed  was  accom- 
plished. 

"Now,  the  fight  was  a  fake,  of  course.  Har- 
vard tells  me  that  he  called  at  Atkinson's  house  the 
other  night  and  found  Badger  there,  and  had  a 
fight  with  him;  so,  in  my  opinion  at  least,  it  is  a 


THE  WAY  THE  MONEY  WENT         815 

safe  proposition  that  Badger  was  in  the  game,  and 
that  Atkinson  is  the  man  who  attached  the  cord  to 
the  packages  of  bills. 

"We  do  not  know  yet  who  lowered  the  cord 
through  the  hole  in  the  ceiling,  but  your  records 
showing  who  was  absent  from  behind  the  screen 
in  the  bank  at  just  that  time  will  establish  who  that 
was — and  I  will  be  at  the  bank  at  nine  o'clock  in 
the  morning  to  get  him  along  with  Badger  and 
Atkinson. 

"There  is  just  one  more  thing  that  we  do  know, 
however,  and  that  is  that  Rodney  Rushton  received 
for  his  own  share  one-half  of  the  amount  that  was 
stolen;  and  if  I  don't  make  him  and  Badger  and 
Atkinson  give  up  the  whole  story  to-morrow  morn- 
ing I  am  very  much  mistaken. 

"Harvard,  I  advise  you  and  Lady  Kate  to  stay 
right  here  with  Mr.  Chester  to-night  and  to  go  to 
the  bank  with  him  in  the  morning.  Mrs.  Harvard 
can  send  for  her  dresses  and  things,  I  suppose." 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 

TAKING  THE  "THIRD  DEGREE" 

Bingham  Harvard,  Lieutenant  Banta,  Tom 
Clancy,  Compton,  President  Chester,  Chief  Red- 
head, Black  Julius,  and  Lady  Kate  were  seated  to- 
gether in  the  little  house  on  the  roof  at  eleven 
o'clock  the  following  morning. 

Outside  on  the  roof,  under  guard  of  three  of 
the  chief's  operatives  and  handcuffed  together,  were 
Atkinson,  Badger,  and  a  bookkeeper  from  the  bank 
whose  name  was  Seixas — for  his  name  had  been 
the  one  discovered  as  the  absentee  from  the  interior 
of  the  bank  at  the  crucial  moment  of  that  Thurs- 
day in  June  more  than  a  year  before. 

Over  in  a  corner,  bound  hand  and  foot,  with  a 
bandage  over  his  eyes  and  a  towel  fastened  tightly 
around  his  jaws,  helpless,  soundless,  beside  himself 
with  rage  but  utterly  powerless,  was  Rushton. 

He  was  receiving,  and  was  still  to  receive,  a  prac- 
tical demonstration  of  an  art  that  he  had  often 
practiced  upon  others — a  demonstration  of  the  third 

degree. 

316 


TAKING  THE  "THIRD  DEGREE"     317 

The  chief  began  the  proceedings,  speaking  in 
cool,  even  tones,  addressing  the  others  generally. 

"It  was  this  way,"  he  said.  "Rushton  planned 
the  entire  affair.  Badger,  I  find,  used  to  be  a  cop, 
but  was  dismissed  from  the  department  three  years 
ago  on  charges.  He  had  been  an  apt  tool  of  Rush- 
ton's,  and  it  was  partly  through  Rushton  that  he 
received  his  appointment  at  the  bank  from  you,  Mr. 
Chester." 

The  banker  nodded. 

"James  Atkinson  has  a  passion  for  so-called 
mathematical  problems ;  but  his  problems  are,  when 
studied,  found  to  be  'systems'  for  gambling — sys- 
tems which  he  makes  no  use  of  directly,  but  which 
he  prepares  and  sells  to  gamblers,  who  are  the  most 
superstitious  people  in  the  world.  In  order  to  per- 
fect those  systems  to  a  selling  point  he  often  vis- 
ited gambling-houses  and  race-tracks,  although  he 
has  never  been  known  to  gamble  himself.  For 
that  reason  the  bank  detectives  let  him  alone. 

"But  Rushton  made  his  acquaintance,  followed 
him  up,  found  that  he  was  selling  so-called  sys- 
tems, and  used  the  fact  as  a  lever  and  finally  won 
Atkinson  over  to  the  point  of  becoming  an  accom- 
plice in  this  theft — and  in  others  that  would  have 
followed  it  before  very  long. 

"In  Rushton's  memoranda,  taken  from  his  room 
by  Mr.  Harvard  on  a  memorable  occasion,  we  dis- 
covered by  working  out  the  cipher  that  one-half  of 


318      RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

the  stolen  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  dol- 
lars— sixty-eight  thousand  dollars,  to  be  more  exact 
— went  to  Rushton,  and  was  deposited  by  him  in 
four  banks  in  sums  of  seventeen  thousand  dollars 
to  each  one. 

"We  found  that  eighteen  thousand  dollars  was 
paid  over  to  a  man  who  was  entered  in  the  memo- 
randa as  Z.  G.  I  find  that  Z  is  the  most  prominent 
letter  in  Alonzo  and  that  G  takes  the  same  promi- 
nence in  Badger.  Alonzo  is  Badger's  given  name; 
so  Alonzo  Badger  got  eighteen  thousand  dollars 
of  the  stolen  money. 

"Twenty-five  thousand  dollars  went  to  each  of 
two  men — one  represented  by  the  letters  K.  N.,  the 
other  represented  by  the  letters  S.  X.  You  will 
readily  see  that  K.  N.  bears  the  same  relation  to 
the  name  Atkinson,  and  S.  X.  to  the  name  Seixas, 
that  Z.  G.  does  to  Alonzo  Badger. 

"Still,  we  had  no  proof — save  only  the  deciph- 
ered memorandum-books  of  Rushton's;  and  they 
were  hardly  sufficient.  But  I  discovered  that  the 
man  Seixas  is  a  weak  proposition.  This  morning, 
an  hour  ago,  when  I  made  it  plain  to  him  that  we 
had  the  goods  on  him,  and  after  I  had  made  him 
think  that  Rushton  had  given  up  the  whole  story, 
he  broke  down  and  confessed;  and  now  I  have  his 
signed  and  sworn  confession  in  my  pocket.  He 
swears  that  Rushton  cooked  up  the  entire  affair." 

Rushton  could  be  seen  vainly  struggling  under  his 


TAKING  THE  "THIRD  DEGREE"      319 

bonds,  but  nobody  paid  the  slightest  attention  to 
him. 

"Atkinson,  confronted  by  the  confession  of 
Seixas,  and  by  the  further  assurance  that  we  had 
the  goods  on  Rushton — and  being  told,  also,  Mr. 
Chester,  of  Rushton's  attempt  to  blackmail  you,  and 
of  how  we  have  the  marked  money  that  you  paid 
him,  and  affidavits  from  both  banks  to  go  with  it, 
so  that  he  is  bound  to  be  convicted  and  sent  away 
on  that — became  defiant  and  abusive,  and  finally 
made  a  confession,  also  in  the  presence  of  witnesses, 
although  he  would  not  swear  to  one. 

"Badger,  that  great  hulk  of  a  man,  was  easy. 
He  seemed  glad  to  tell  the  whole  story  about  Rush- 
ton  and  Rushton's  methods,  and  he  knows  enough 
of  the  back  record  of  Rushton  to  cause  his  indict- 
ment a  dozen  times  over. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  three  of  those  men  are 
sore  at  Rushton  for  taking  the  lion's  share  of  that 
stolen  money  when  he  did  nothing  but  plan  it,  and 
they  took  all  the  risk  and  did  all  the  work.  Rush- 
ton  was  not  anywhere  near  the  bank  when  the 
money  was  actually  stolen. 

"Now,  there  is  one  more  important  thing — the 
frame-up. 

"Rushton  told  Badger  all  about  that.  Badger 
actually  assisted  him  by  procuring  the  stamped 
paper-slips  that  are  used  for  wrapping  packages  of 
bills  at  the  Centropolis  Bank ;  those  scraps  of  paper 


that  Rushton  showed  to  you,  Mr.  Chester,  at  the 
time  he  succeeded  in  so  nearly  convincing  you  of 
Harvard's  guilt 

"Those  scraps  were  charred  and  scorched  and 
partly  burned  at  Badger's  home,  and  he  was  pres- 
ent with  Rushton  when  it  was  done.  That  ex- 
plains the  frame-up;  and  that,  Lieutenant  Banta, 
is  what  you  have  been  most  interested  to  know 
about." 

"That's  no  dream,  chief,"  Banta  responded. 

"Now,"  the  chief  continued,  "just  one  moment, 
if  you  please." 

He  went  to  the  door  to  the  roof  and  threw  it 
open.  He  signaled  to  his  three  operatives  who  had 
Badger,  Seixas,  and  Atkinson  in  charge,  and  the 
three  men  were  brought  silently  into  the  room. 

Then  the  chief  stepped  swiftly  behind  Rushton, 
and  almost  with  one  motion  stripped  the  bandages 
from  the  lieutenant's  eyes  and  jaws;  and  Rushton, 
blinking,  saw  those  three  men  standing  in  line  di- 
rectly in  front  of  him. 

It  was  a  dramatic  moment — a  perfectly  pre- 
pared climax — and  it  worked. 

The  bottled-up,  repressed  wrath  of  Rushton  was 
uncorked. 

The  tirade  of  abuse  that  he  heaped  upon  those 
three  men  with  his  tongue  defies  description.  It 
could  not  be  repeated.  It  could  not  be  half  told; 
but,  in  still  another  corner  of  that  room  behind  a 


screen,  an  expert  stenographer  took  down  every 
word,  profane  or  otherwise,  that  he  uttered. 

And  when  he  did  at  last  stop  for  breath  there 
was  nothing  more  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  a 
confession  from  him. 

The  names  that  he  did  not  call  his  accomplices 
were  few  indeed. 

The  incidents  that  would  convict  him,  that  he 
did  not  refer  to  in  words,  were  nil. 

He  damned  them,  one  after  another,  to  all  kinds 
of  perdition  to  the  end  of  time;  and  when  he  had 
quite  finished,  and  he  was  breathless,  Atkinson  re- 
plied to  him  calmly  by  saying: 

"You  seem  to  have  told  it  all,  Rushton.  I  had 
not  confessed  to  anything;  neither  had  Seixas. 
Badger  had,  of  course;  but  there  would  still  have 
been  a  fighting  chance  for  us  maybe  if  you  had 
kept  your  mouth  shut.  But  you  are  only  a  com- 
mon yellow  dog,  anyhow."  He  turned  to  the  chief. 
"Take  me  away  from  here,  please,  and  I  will  write 
out  a  full  description  and  confession  of  the  whole 
thing,"  he  added. 

"And  you,  Seixas?"  the  chief  asked. 

"Oh,  I'll  sign  it,"  was  the  reply,  given  with  a 
laugh. 

"Badger,  how  much  of  that  stolen  money  have 
you  still  got  in  your  possession?"  the  chief  asked. 

"All  of  it,"  was  the  reply. 

"How  much  have  you,  Atkinson?" 


"About  fifteen  thousand  of  my  share." 

"And  you,  Seixas  ?" 

"Not  a  cent.    I  blew  it  all  in  on  the  ponies." 

"Well,  Mr.  Chester,  we  will  recover  about  a  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  of  it  at  that,"  the  chief  said, 
with  a  smile.  "This  is  a  pretty  good  morning's 
work." 

There  was  a  general  hand-shaking  all  around 
after  that — that  is,  after  the  four  prisoners  had 
been  sent  away — for  you  may  be  sure  that  the  chief 
had  everything  in  preparation  for  that  interesting 
event. 

"I  have  arranged  an  appointment  for  you,  Har- 
vard, at  my  office,"  he  said  a  little  later.  "It  is  for 
one  o'clock.  I  want  you  and  Lady  Kate,  Clancy, 
and  Banta  to  go  with  me." 

Lady  Kate  looked  very  chic  indeed  with  her 
closely  cropped,  boyishly  trimmed  hair  and  her 
tailor-made,  perfectly  fitting  suit  of  gray  as  she 
sat  in  the  chief's  office  with  her  husband  and  his 
friends,  awaiting  the  return  of  Redhead,  who  had 
gone  for  a  moment  into  another  room. 

Presently  the  chief  came  back,  and  he  beckoned 
to  Harvard  and  Lady  Kate  and  to  Banta  and  Clancy 
to  follow  him. 

In  that  other  room  which  they  entered  a  man 
was  seated,  with  his  face  turned  toward  the  win- 
dow, and  he  did  not  look  around  until  the  chief 
spoke  to  him. 


RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND  323 

But  then  he  got  upon  his  feet  and  turned  about 
so  that  he  faced  them,  clinging  to  the  back  of  the 
chair  upon  which  he  had  been  seated. 

What  they  all  saw  was,  in  one  sense,  pathetic, 
for  it  was  the  inspector  who  faced  them — the  in- 
spector who  had  been  made  a  slave  of  that  "sys- 
tem" which  has  ruined  so  many  perfectly  well-in- 
tentioned men. 

They  were  all  silent.  Not  one  of  them  could 
think  of  anything  to  say.  It  was  the  chief  who 
spoke  first. 

"Tell  these  friends  of  ours  what  you  have  to  say 
to  them,  Aaron,"  he  said. 

Again  there  was  a  moment  of  silence.  Then  the 
inspector  spoke  in  a  low  tone  and  very  quietly. 

"I  want  to  congratulate  you,  Harvard,  on  the 
happy  ending  of  your  difficulties,"  he  said.  "I 
should  have  known  it — and  I  did  know  it  without 
knowing  it.  I  might  have  known  by  implication 
that  there  had  been  a  frame-up,  but  I  refused  to 
know  it.  I  am  sorry. 

"Lady  Kate,  if  I  may  still  so  address  you,  I  con- 
gratulate you  also.  You  have  a  splendid  and  a 
good  man  for  your  husband,  one  whom  I  have 
learned  to  honor  and  respect.  I  wish  to  assure  him 
through  you  that  the  commissioner  has  agreed  with 
me  already  that  there  will  never  be  any  notice  taken 
of  the  acts  of  Bingham  Harvard  in  his  defiance  of 


324     RETURN  OF  THE  NIGHT  WIND 

police  authority;  and  I  ought  to  tell  you  both  that 
the  commissioner's  principal  reason  for  that  atti- 
tude is  owing  to  a  signed  petition  that  he  received 
yesterday — signed  by  every  man  except  Rushton, 
•who  has  felt  the  weight  of  Harvard's  hand. 

"Mr.  Clancy,  we  have  had  misunderstandings  in 
the  past.  I  have  forgotten  them,  and  I  hope  you 
will  do  the  same. 

"Banta,  old  friend,  this  is  a  tough  moment.  We 
have  always  liked  each  other,  and  I  am  more  glad 
than  ever  now  to  have  called  you  my  friend.  Chief, 
you  cannot  do  better  than  to  take  Banta  on  with 
you.  You  couldn't  have  a  better  man." 

"He  is  on  already — since  last  midnight,"  the 
chief  replied. 

"Then  I  have  just  one  more  word  to  say,  and 
it  is  addressed  to  all  who  are  here.  I  have  re- 
signed from  the  department,  and  my  resignation 
has  been  accepted.  It  takes  effect  immediately. 
The  chief,  who  has  proved  himself  to  be  my  very 
good  friend,  advised  it ;  the  commissioner  approved 
of  it — so  there  it  ends." 

He  bowed,  reached  for  his  hat,  bowed  again  at 
the  doorway  and  was  gone. 

"Now,  what  do  you  know  about  that?"  Clancy 
exclaimed.  "I  suppose  there  are  some  people  who 
would  say  that  he  ought  to  have  got  it  in  the  neck, 
but  I'm  satisfied  as  it  is.  Eh — what?" 


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